Patna, Oct. 31: Mehre Alam, a suspected Indian Mujahideen operative, was re-arrested from Panki railway station near Kanpur on Thursday after he escaped from the National Investigation Agency’s custody on Wednesday night.

Alam, a resident of Darbhanga district and a close associate of Patna serial blasts mastermind Tahseen Akhtar alias Monu, had escaped from Muzaffarpur. The Uttar Pradesh anti-terrorist squad (ATS) apprehended him from the 12235 Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express following an NIA alert.

Alam was first arrested from his Sidhauli village on Wednesday under the jurisdiction of Hayaghat police station in Darbhanga district on a tip-off by Uzair Ahmed, held in Ranchi on Wednesday for alleged role in the 2012 Delhi blast. Alam gave NIA officials the slip on the pretext of attending to nature’s call while being taken to the railway station from a guesthouse in Motijheel (Muzaffarpur). NIA officials were about to board a train to Delhi with Alam. A manhunt was launched but Alam could not be traced.

Sources said Alam hid at a secluded place near the station and boarded the Rajdhani Express. It could not be found if he had a valid ticket on him.

B.B. Pathak, an inspector rank officer of the NIA, lodged a complaint with Muzaffarpur police about Alam having escaped from police custody. Muzaffarpur town police station officials, however, said the alleged IM operative escaped from the lavatory of the guesthouse where he was detained for questioning over the Patna blasts. Also, they said, he was picked up from a Muzaffarpur lodge and not Sidhauli.

An SP-rank NIA official in Patna said Alam would be produced before an NIA court on Friday after grilling. “He is being brought to Muzaffarpur from Kanpur under tight security,” he said. His direct links with the Indian Mujahideen’s (IM’s) Ranchi module are yet to be ascertained.

Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaj said the NIA was yet to formally take over probe of the blasts. Meanwhile a new controversy has arisen. Both the RPF and GRP claim they arrested IM men Imtiyaz and Enul after the blasts at the Patna Junction on Sunday.