“The NIA team has provided certain names in connection with the Burdwan incident,” Police’s Detective Branch Joint Commissioner Manirul Islam told reporters on Monday.
Asked how many names the list contained, he said: “There are a few names.”
The DB official could not, however, say whether those on the list were part of any militant outfit. “These people have several names. We are looking into it. After that, we will know who they are.”
A Bangladesh official, on condition of anonymity, told bdnews24.com that the NIA team has given 10 to 15 mobile telephone numbers and a few names.
The Indian investigators wanted to know whether the Bangladeshi agencies knew about them, he said, adding the NIA team gave details of some of the relatives of the suspected militants.
A four-member NIA team led by its Director General Sharad Kumar arrived in Dhaka Monday morning.
Later, they had an introductory meeting with home ministry officials, chiefs of different Bangladeshi intelligence agencies, and senior officers of police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB.)
Asked whether Bangladesh sought any information from the NIA, DB Joint Commissioner Islam said: “We have asked for information on several issues, including the JMB militant snatching at Mymensingh’s Trishal.”
Indian intelligence officers suspect Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) leader Jahidul Islam alias Boma Mizan, who was snatched from a prison van in an ambush on Feb 26, is now in India.
NIA investigators suspect Mizan to be giving explosives training to JMB militants in West Bengal.
The agency has been investigating Jihadi networks after the Oct 2 blast at a house in West Bengal’s Burdwan town.
The house, Indian investigators said, had been turned into a factory for making Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) by militants if the banned outfit, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
Two suspected militants died in the explosion and their wives, believed also to have been trained by the JMB, were caught.
The incident led to the unravelling of a wide terror network, the investigators said, also claiming that the militants were out to eliminate two top Bangladesh politicians – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
The NIA felt the need to investigate in Bangladesh and the visit was set up after talks with Dhaka.
The NIA team, led by its Director General (DG) Sharad Kumar, includes its Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Sajeeb Farid, Inspector General (investigations) Sanjeev Kumar Singh and DIG (investigations) Anurag Tankha.
Two officials of the Indian high commission in Dhaka also attended Monday’s meeting at the home ministry.
“India suspects there are militants in both Bangladesh and India, and feels they need to be traced.
“We think their call cannot be dismissed,” Home Secretary Md Mozammel Haque Khan told reporters after the meeting.
Several individuals have been arrested in India in connection with the blast including Bangladesh national Sheikh Rahmatulla Sajid of Narayanganj, allegedly a commander of the JMB’s module in West Bengal.
After Sajid’s arrest on Nov 8 in Kolkata, Indian authorities claimed that the 40-year-old from Narayanganj was a JMB commander.
The NIA has also interrogated him among others.
Bangladeshi security agency RAB has not been able to identify anyone named ‘Sajid’ at the address mentioned by the Indian media.
But it had identified one ‘Masum Miah’ and suspects Sajid to be just another of his names.
RAB, however, arrested Miah’s brother, a resident of Farazikanda of Narayanganj’s Bandar Upazila on Nov 11.
Source: Bd news24
