Investigators probing the serial blasts in Assam on Thursday suspect the involvement of one Jehangir, allegedly a top operative of the Bangladeshi Harkat ul Jehad al Islami (HuJI), in plotting the terror attack.
Jehangir, who is a Bangladeshi national, claimed a Home Ministry source who
requested anonymity, is suspected to have played a role in plotting the blasts in Guwahati. “Inputs available with us now suggest Jehangir is now back in Bangladesh, having returned there illegally,” claimed the officer. The exact identity of the blasts’ perpetrators is yet to be ascertained yet though.
Jehangir, according to sources in the Intelligence Bureau, allegedly runs the HuJI training base at “Netrakonar, Mymensingh district” that lies across Meghalaya. Jehangir suspected to have an extensive experience of interactions with terror/insurgent outfits operating in the Northeast.
The high degree of planning and execution apparent in the serial blasts have raised apprehensions among investigators about the involvement of terror groups like HuJI and its alleged mentor — the Bangladeshi Directorate General of Forces Intelligence. They pointed out that though the United Liberation Front of Assam had executed blasts in the past, the level of planning and quality of the explosives used were ‘inferior’ compared to what was seen on Thursday.
Jehangir, meanwhile, is not a new name for the central intelligence agencies. A source claimed an arrested HuJI operative, Mohammed Jalaluddin aka Babu Bhai, who is in the custody of the UP police since June last year, had allegedly claimed that “Jehangir had provided to him RDX that was to be used for terror attacks in India in 2006”.
Bangladesh’s Foreign Office in a statement issued to the media however has insisted that reports about suspected involvement of the HuJI in the Assam blasts “are totally baseless”.