JOIN USNIA identifies 2nd Burdwan blast terrorist
Nearly 45 days after the Burdwan blast, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has identified the second bomb-maker as Karim Sheikh, a cousin of arrested Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh operative Amjad Sheikh.
For more than a month, the NIA has been in confusion over the identity of the second bomb-maker who, along with Shakil Ahmed, died in the blast. Although the bomb-maker claimed to be Shubhan Mondal in his dying statement, the NIA has concluded that he misled them even in the last moment.
While Mondal is still on the agency’s most-wanted list, Karim is likely to have deceived the police to give him time to escape. According to sources, the identity was finally established on Thursday following a written testimony from Karim’s father and brother. Karim was a resident of Kaferpur village in Birbhum.
The NIA arrested Amjad from Kirnahar in the same district earlier this week. The police said that while Karim died at the Burdwan medical college a day after the blast, where he was admitted in critical condition, the puzzle over his identity was finally solved after interrogating Amjad. He told the agency about Karim.
The matter was further resolved after the NIA brought Karim’s father and brother to identify the corpse, who collapsed at the sight of the decomposed body. Karim’s brother Amirul Hossain told reporters outside the morgue that NIA officials showed them a photograph. “We were shown a photo of the person who died in hospital after the blast. Although it was difficult because the body was decomposed, we identified him as my brother,” Amirul said before being handed over the body.
Karim’s father, a vegetable vendor, said Karim had left home for Kerala in search of a job just like other youths. “We in the family have no idea how he got mixed with jihadi elements. He left the village in July,” he said. The NIA found further proof of the extensive terror network JuMB has laid across eastern India as the agency arrested three people from Pakur in Jharkhand, who were affiliated with the Indian Mujahideen, on Wednesday.