Burdwan blast: NIA arrests absconding accused

The NIA on Saturday arrested Abdul Wahab Momin, one of the absconding accused in the Burdwan blast, here in the West Bengal capital, an official said.

"Wahab, a resident of Samsherganj in Murshidabad district, was today arrested from Sealdah. He is an accused in the Burdwan blast and was absconding," an officer of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) told IANS.

Probing the blast in which militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) is suspected to be involved, the NIA has arrested 18 people, mostly Bangladeshis from various parts of the country as well as Dhaka.

The accidental blast took place at a house in Khagragarh in Burdwan district on October 2 last year, killing two JMB militants and injuring another.

The NIA has claimed its investigation has so far showed that the JMB had established its network in many districts -- particularly in Murshidabad, Nadia, Malda, Birbhum and Burdwan in Bengal, Barpeta in Assam, and Sahibganj and Pakur in Jharkhand.

As many as 15 people suspected to be involved in the case are absconding.

The NIA took over the probe a few days after the explosion.