Burdwan blast: JMB Indian wing member sent to NIA custody

A city court on Monday sent Ibrahim Sheikh, an alleged leading member of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh's (JMB) Indian wing, to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody till May 8 in connection with the Burdwan blast case.

The NIA counsel sought Ibrahim alias Lal Mohammad's custody saying he was caught with ammunition, firearms and crude bombs.

Ibrahim is said to hail from Nabagram in West Bengal's Murshidabad district and a member of the Majlis-e-shura (central committee) of the JMB.

Picked up from Jaharkhan's Pakur on April 20, and sent to NIA custody there, he was brought to Kolkata on a transit remand.

The investigating agencies have alleged that he was the in-charge of the Fatimatul Mukimnagar Madarsa in Murshidabad, which is closely linked to JMB.

Police had shut and sealed off the madarsa after the October 2 Burdwan blast.

The NIA filed the charg esheet last month, naming 21 people including 4 Bangladeshi nationals. Of the 21 charge sheeted, the agency so far has arrested 13 while 8 others are absconding.

The chargesheet claimed that AJMB - a proscribed terrorist organisation in Bangladesh - had hatched the conspiracy to overthrow the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh through violent terrorist acts and replace it with hard-line Sharia-based Islamic rule.

The accidental blast took place in a house in Khagragarh in Burdwan district on October 2, killing two JMB militants and injuring another, which brought the conspiracy out in the open.