A woman suspected to have played a part in a plot to assassinate Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was produced before a local court in Assam’s principal city Guwahati on Saturday.
A combined team of India’s National Investigation Agency, Central Reserve Police Force and Special Operation Unit (Assam police) had arrested Sujina Begum from Guwahati’s Inter State Bus Terminus Friday evening.
Assam police’s Special Branch was given custody of Sujina, 30, for 14 days.
She is the wife of Sahanur Alom, resident of a village in western Assam’s Barpeta district and one of the 12 prime accused in the Burdwan blast in West Bengal last month.
A senior police officer said Sujina could have been involved in a plot to destabilise Bangladesh by assassinating Hasina. “More importantly, she could help throw light on a terror funding network involving banks and hawala (illegal currency exchange) operators,” he said, seeking anonymity.
As of now, police are investigating her role in imparting training for jihad across sandbars in Assam that are difficult to access.
“We are sure that she was involved in jihadi activities along with her husband,” Deputy Inspector General Apurba Jiban Baruah, the spokesperson of Assam police, said.
He added that Sujina was tasked with floating and heading a women’s wing of the Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
Sujina, police said, had joined JMB three years ago. Apart from motivating the youth for terror strikes, she reportedly specialised in carrying money sourced from Bangladesh to madrasas in West Bengal via Assam.
Investigations revealed she used to receive money in two bank accounts that were primarily operated by husband Sahanur. She is also believed to have links with a strong hawala network in Mankachar, Dhubri and other habitations in Assam bordering Bangladesh.
Sujina and Sahanur had last month fled their native Chotala village in western Assam soon after the police in West Bengal, probing the Burdwan blast, found documents pointing to their involvement with JMB.
On Friday, the police received information that Sujina had reached Guwahati along with her minor son and daughter and two other women. “She was planning to go somewhere in western Assam,” Baruah said.
Villagers knew Sahanur as a quack dentist with herbal remedies. Police said his ‘medical profession’ was a front for expanding the terror network from Simulia madrasa in Burdwan.
Earlier, police had arrested Sahanur’s brother Jakaria Ali and five others for working with JMB’s sleeper cell in Assam.
Meanwhile, members of All Assam Minority Students’ Union carried out a rally in Barpeta district seeking a clampdown on jihadi groups that are a threat to India’s security.
Source: bdnews24
