NIA recovers 5 fabricated hand grenades, explosive materials in Bengaluru

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has recovered five fabricated hand grenades and other incriminating materials on the disclosure of Habibur Rehman Sheikh, who has been arrested in the 2014 Burdwan blast case.

The recovery was made on July 7 in the North District Bengaluru. Besides, the fabricated grenades, one-timer device, three electric circuits, a suspected explosive substance, and different components for making improvised explosives devices (IEDs) were recovered from a place under Soladevenahalli Police Station here.

These hand grenades were fabricated as a part of a conspiracy to commit terrorist acts in different parts of the State.

On June 25, NIA had arrested Sheikh, a prime accused in the 2014 Burdwan blast case, from Dodabalpur area in Bengaluru. NIA had earlier announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh against him.

Sheikh was earlier charge-sheeted on March 30, 2015, in this case for his direct involvement in the conspiracy of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to wage a war against the Governments of India and Bangladesh, a statement from the investigative agency had said.

In pursuance to this conspiracy, Sheikh along with other members of JMB, were involved in raising funds by committing dacoities in Bengaluru City in 2018. The recovery has been affected while in Police Remand.

In this connection, a fresh case has been registered at Soladevanahalli Police Station of North district, Bengaluru City against him and other cadres of JMB under Sections 18, 38, 40 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) (UAP) Act and 34, 121, 121A and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code IPC on July 8.

Sheikh was a close associate of senior JMB leader Jahidul Islam. He was also associated with other JMB leaders like Rahamatullah and Moulana Yusuf. He was an active member of JMB, Bolpur module in West Bengal and had attended a number of training camps conducted by the JMB.