Men held in Bengaluru masterminded Bodh Gaya blasts:NIA

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) stated on Monday that the two terror suspects who were arrested from Bengaluru recently were the masterminds behind the planting of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at Bodh Gaya on January 19 this year.

The suspect Adil Sheikh (29) arrested from Cantonment Railway Station on August 6 is a senior member of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB), Bangladesh, while Mohammed Jahidul Islam alias Munir Sheikh (38) who was arrested from Ramanagaram on August 7, is a native of Jamalpur, Bangladesh. "The two had played a major role in planting IEDs at a kitchen set up at a ground in the temple town of Bodh Gaya on January 19 this year to express solidarity with Rohingya Muslims fighting the Myanmar government and wage a war against the government of India," the NIA stated.

The NIA, which filed a charge sheet before the Special Court in Patna on Thursday stated that the explosion was supposed to have been carried out when the Dalai Lama and the governor of Bihar were at the Bodh Gaya temple premises. After receiving information that some suspicious objects were lying near the Kalchakra Maidan, Bodh Gaya, under a generator set, the police secured the site and during the search, found two more live IEDs.

In the charge sheet, the NIA stated that Jahidul Islam entered into a conspiracy with the other associates to carry out terror incidents in India by planting IEDs and carrying out explosions at symbols of Buddhist faith in order to show solidarity with the Rohingya Muslims.

It added that the suspects contacted and assembled at various places, carried out reconnaissance of the targets at Bodh Gaya and procured explosives and other materials to manufacture IEDs.

Jahidul Islam, with the help of the other co-accused, made three IEDs and two hand grenades. The IEDs were planted by Adil Sheikh, Dilwar Hossain and Arif Hussain on the premises of Bodh Gaya. NIA had established links of eight persons in the case out of whom seven were arrested. NIA is yet to arrest another terror suspect Arif Hussain.

CM: Plot not hatched in state

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday said no plot had been hatched in Karnataka to assassinate Dalai Lama. Speaking to reporters, Kumaraswamy said, “According to information provided by the state police, no such attempt was made in Karnataka,” he added.