ED registers money laundering case in Barddhaman blast

Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a money laundering case against suspected Indian operatives and an ultra outfit of Bangladesh to probe "terror funding" crimes in the aftermath of the Barddhaman blast in West Bengal.

This action is stated to be one of the rare cases where the ED has registered a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case to probe terror funding in the country and abroad.

"The agency's Kolkata zonal office has registered a case under the PMLA against Hassan Sahib and other members of Jammat-ul-Mujahideen, Bangladesh in Barddhaman blast case. The agency suspects terror funding in this case and it will probe this angle," the ED said in a statement.

Agency officials said they took over the case after taking cognisance of over half-a-dozen FIRs filed by the West Bengal police in this case and also after studying the NIA criminal complaint which has slapped charges under the Indian Penal Code including the provision for waging war against the country, Explosive Substances Act and various sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

The case pertains to an explosion in a rented house at Khagragarh in the same district on October 2 which led to the death of two persons believed to be members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh. Shakil Ahmed and Suvon Mandal alias Subhan, both hailing from Bangladesh, were killed while assembling Improvised Explosive Devices(IEDs).

A suspected terrorist Hassan Sahib alias Sheikh Hakim of the Murshidabad district, who got injured in the same blast and is hospitalised at present, has also been named by the ED in its criminal complaint. Officials said the ED will look into the funding channels of procuring arms and ammunition for this suspected terror plot which sleuths believe has multi-country ramifications.

"Recently, a team of the terror financing cell of NIA met ED Special Director (East) Yogesh Gupta in Kolkata with regard to these developments. An ED team also visited the spot of the blasts and all this culminated into the registering of this PMLA case,"" they said. So far, 10 people have bee arrested in this case including six in Assam.