
When the smoke from last week’s blast in Burdwan cleared, it left in its wake a deeply distressing picture that puts West Bengal smack at the centre of an blood-lust-driven international network.

Just five years ago, Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal was briefly apprehended in Kolkata (he managed to get away at the time, thanks in equal measure to an assumed identity and lack of coordination among state and central security agencies).

The ammonium nitrate for the IEDs that killed 21 people in Varanasi in 2006 was bought from the Burrabazar wholesale market at Kolkata. It is also suspected that the raw material for explosives that tore through Pune’s German Bakery in 2010 was given to Bhatkal in Kolkata by an IM operative native to the border district of Nadia.

Homegrown terror

One of the accused in the explosion which killed 17 people, IM operative of Bangladeshi origin Zahid Hussein, was arrested in Kolkata this July. One of the homegrown terror group’s big players, Amir Reza Khan, an accused in the 2002 American Center attack, is a former Kolkata resident.

West Bengal’s porous 2,200-km border with Bangladesh makes it a convenient passage point into India for militants associated with several organisations. In this light, it comes as no surprise that the state’s name has surfaced repeatedly in terror investigations over the years.

Not just this, it has also emerged as a major channel for the smuggling of fake Indian currency notes (FICN).

In fact, Bhatkal was arrested in 2009 by the Kolkata Police Special Task Force for carrying FICN, while intelligence sources said Zahid Hussein was involved in an FICN racket that helped fund “subversive” activities.

“Since the state shares a vast part of its international border with Bangladesh, it is easy for illegal migrants to use it as a safe transit corridor,” a senior security official said.

“The advantages they enjoy here are innumerable: immigrant-pockets which have proved to be excellent hideouts; a big metropolitan, Kolkata offers them concealment and its railway stations, namely Howrah and Sealdah, easy connectivity with the rest of the country,” the official added.

The two militants killed in the October 2 Burdwan explosion and their acquaintances are said to be associated with the Bangladesh-based terror group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). One of the militants killed, Shakeel Ahmed, hailed from Bangladesh.

Intelligence sources said many militants often come to Burdwan — a location of great strategic importance given its proximity to both Bangladesh as well as the North-east — to lay low and prepare for assignments. More worryingly, the arrests brought back top JMB operative Maulana Saidur’s confession from last year that the group had established a network in three districts of West Bengal.

Security officials stress that the state government needs to urgently implement a proper review mechanism along the border and inspect residents in the area carefully before equipping them with photo identity cards.

“The state government must develop a joint mechanism to review and interrogate people in a proper way before giving them identity cards. We have found that a number of Bangladeshi immigrants have Indian voter ID cards, which makes it difficult for the Indian security agencies to filter them out,” a senior BSF official posted at the South Bengal Frontier said.

Network

The Burdwan explosion has led to accusations from the Opposition that West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee government is responsible for the state’s strengthening image as a haven for terrorists.

With the Centre handing over the probe to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the actual extent of the terror network may finally be discovered.

MAIL TODAY EXCLUSIVE: Letter reveals TMC leader's role in riots

By Soudhriti Bhabani in Kolkata

With opposition parties squarely blaming the Mamata Banerjee-led government for its ignorance towards terror modules operating from the rural outskirts, an exclusive document revealed startling facts about the TMC’s Rajya Sabha member Ahmed Hassan Imran and his alleged connection with communal violence that took place in South 24 Parganas district in February last year.

A confidential document revealed that Ahmed Hassan Imran was the mastermind behind the communal conflict at Naliakhali village where an unruly mob set afire over 100 huts and ransacked several households.

The two-page report by the then district intelligence bureau (DIB) sent a detailed note to the district police superintendent (case no: 84 dtd 19.02.2013 u/s 394/302/307/153A IPC and 25/27 Arm Act).

It clearly mentioned that Imran was involved in instigating youths and sending them to the troubled area with bombs and other fire arms.

Quite surprisingly, Imran was made Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha member in February 2014, despite the DIB report.

Sources said Imran is a “front man” for Jamate- Islami, Bangladesh (JIB) and one of the founder members of the banned students’ outfit SIMI.

The note said that he was “a member of Students Islamic Organisation ”.

Now the question is, did Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee deliberately ignore the report?

NIA to probe Burdwan blast case

By Mail Today Bureau & Soudhriti Bhabani in New Delhi & Kolkata

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has decided to transfer the Burdwan blast probe to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) despite reservations expressed by the West Bengal government about the case being handed over to the federal agency.

“Since the initial probe had indicated a Bangladeshi angle to the blast, it would be better for the NIA to investigate the matter in view of the international ramifications,” sources said.

The MHA transferred the case without consent from the state government by citing Section 6 (5) of the NIA Act, which states that the central government can suo motu direct the agency to conduct an investigation if it is of the opinion that a scheduled offence requires to be probed under this law.

Despite this provision in the NIA Act, the normal practice has been to take the state government into confidence and to transfer a case to the NIA after getting the state’s consent. The move could trigger a face-off between the Centre and the state government as the issue has taken a political turn with the TMC defending the CID probe against the BJP’s charge that the state government is trying to cover up the explosion.

The MHA has sought a report from the state government on its investigation. The state police have not given any update to the Home Ministry so far.

West Bengal police filed cases under different sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and for waging war against the country against the accused on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal CID sealed three more houses in the vicinity of the IED factory in Burdwan’s Khagragarh area on Wednesday.

The probe body also sealed a cyber cafe in the district.