Patna, Jan. 1: A 2006 Mumbai train serial blasts suspect was arrested from Darbhanga district of north Bihar, while a Samastipur-based person was let off after interrogation.
The suspect, Naseem Ahmad, was arrested from Keoti block late last night. Members of anti-terrorist squad (ATS) of Maharashtra police today left for Mumbai with Naseem.
Acting on a tip-off, the ATS members conducted a raid at Mohiuddin Nagar Police Station Chowk in Samastipur late on Saturday evening and detained one Mohammad Junaid, said to be a resident of Tedhi village. The ATS members later raided Keoti block in Darbhanga and arrested Naseem. Both the suspects were brought to Vidyapathi Nagar police station in Samastipur, where senior officers of the ATS and intelligence agencies quizzed them for several hours. Junaid was later released.
Sources said the ATS members were camping in Samastipur for the past one week and keeping a close watch on the movement of Junaid.
Junaid, in his late 30s, had stayed in Pune for around three years with a family acquaintance, Imran Ahmad Khan, also said to be involved in the July 11 Mumbai train blasts.
Junaid came back to his native place a few months ago, the sources said. A resident of Asthawan in Nalanda district, Imran had attended a marriage ceremony in Sitamarhi district a few weeks ago with Junaid.
Samastipur superintendent of police (SP) Varun Kumar Sinha confirmed that the raids were conducted by the Maharashtra ATS. “They (ATS members) had approached us for assistance,” he told The Telegraph.
Sinha said Junaid was let off by the ATS after interrogation.
“The ATS team members left for Mumbai with Naseem,” he said, adding that the police were keeping surveillance on suspicious activities in the district.
Arrests of a number of terror suspects from Darbhanga, Samastipur and Madhubani districts have triggered an alarm for senior police officers of the Darbhanga police zone.
Inspector-general (Darbhanga zone) R.K. Mishra said police personnel posted in areas from where terror suspects were arrested in the recent past had been sensitised and asked to keep a close watch on suspicious activities.
“We have appealed to the residents to inform the police about the movement of outsiders in their areas,” Mishra told The Telegraph.
