Gandhi Maidan during Hunkar Rally on October 27

Patna, Nov. 18: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has alerted the Bihar police about five absconding Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives, who are suspected to be involved in the serial bomb explosions in Patna and Bodhgaya.

The investigating agency told the Bihar police officials that the five suspected terrorists — Tahseen Akhtar, Hyder Ali, Taufeeq, Numan and Mojibullah — could sneak into Nepal through Bihar.

Following a tip-off given by the NIA, the state police headquarters on Monday issued directives to the superintendents of police (SPs) of eight bordering districts of the state asking them to watch the movement of the suspects along the India-Nepal border.

The police chiefs of East Champaran, West Champaran, Sitamarhi, Kishanganj, Araria, Katihar, Purnea and Madhubani districts were directed to intensify patrolling in the bordering areas and put the police stations concerned on maximum alert.

The five IM operatives were last seen in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh. They had all escaped to Raipur after the serial explosions in Gandhi Maidan on October 27 and were staying there as students in rented accommodation.

Sources in the NIA said that Umer Siddiqui, who was arrested from Raipur on Saturday, had revealed to the investigating agency that the five suspects had contacted him for accommodation and he helped them. “They had introduced themselves as students,” Siddiqui reportedly told the interrogators.

East Champaran SP Vinay Kumar said an alert has been sounded and the station house officers of the police stations concerned have been told to look out for the suspects. The photographs and other details about the fugitives have also been provided, he said.

The alert assumes significance in the wake of the arrest of IM co-founder Yasin Bhatkal along with his close aide Asadullah alias Haddi from Raxaul in East Champaran district on August 29 this year. Another suspect in the Patna blasts, Tabish Neyaz alias Arshad Ansari, was arrested from his native village Alaula in East Champaran district on October 29. “The personnel of the Sashastra Seema Bal deployed to guard the porous India-Nepal border in the district have also been informed about the possible escape of the suspects,” SP Kumar told The Telegraph over phone.

On Sunday, the NIA, which is probing the two serial blasts cases, had announced a reward for giving information about the absconding suspects. Information about Tahseen and Hyder would fetch a reward of Rs 10 lakh while a tip-off on the three others would earn the informant Rs 5 lakh.

After his arrest, Bhatkal had revealed during interrogation that he had come in contact with Tahseen Akhtar alias Monu, a native of Samastipur district, during his stay in Darbhanga. Danish Ansari, an accomplice of Bhatkal from Darbhanga, and Tahseen helped Bhatkal establish the Bihar module of the IM on the lines of the Azamgarh module. Asadullah, a native of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, too played an important role in establishing the Bihar module.

Another Bhatkal aide, Md. Kalam alias Belal of Pandaul under Bisfi police station in Madhubani district, is on the NIA radar. Though the police raided both Kalam and Tahseen’s hideouts they could not be arrested. However, Md. Kafil, an IM operative, was held from Shivdhara in Darbhanga last November. Danish was arrested in January this year.

Accused remand

The NIA today produced key accused Imtiyaz Ansari in the special court in connection with the Patna blasts case. Ansari has been sent to judicial custody till December 2.

Property attachment

An NIA team today pasted a notice of attachment of property of Tahseen Akhtar at his native village Maniarpur under the jurisdiction of Kalyanpur police station in Samastipur district. The notice asked the fugitive to surrender within 30 days or else the security personnel would attach his property. The police said the family members were inside the house when the notice was pasted.