Bihar on alert for escaped militants

An alert has been sounded throughout Bihar in the wake of intelligence inputs that three militants, who escaped from a Delhi hospital on January 2, may escape from the country through Indo-Nepal or Indo-Bangladesh border, report Ramashankar & Mrigendra Manishee.

An alert has been sounded throughout Bihar in the wake of intelligence inputs that three militants, who escaped from a Delhi hospital on January 2, may escape from the country through Indo-Nepal or Indo-Bangladesh border.

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Director General of Police Anand Shankar said all the police stations located in the districts bordering Nepal have been put on maximum alert. “The police officials posted in bordering districts have been asked to keep a close watch on the people going to Nepal or vice versa,” he added. The Ministry of Home Affairs, which announced a reward of Rs 50,000 each for arresting the militants, had sent a letter to the Bihar government in this connection recently.

Meanwhile, security at the Indian Oil Refinery at Barauni in Begusarai district has also been beefed up following recovery of maps of some important oil installations of the country from a Bangladeshi national recently.

The maps were seized on Tuesday from Taufiq, 35, said to be a resident of Chakti under Malikpur police station of Kansar district in Bangladesh. Taufiq was taken into custody from Chunapur airport at Purnia while moving in suspicious manner. Besides maps of oil units and government installations, Bangladeshi currency, Indian currency notes and lottery tickets of Himachal Pradesh were also recovered from him.

Meanwhile, Purnia police officials were busy trying to extract information from Taufiq. “The police are investigating how he sneaked into the Indian territory from Bangladesh and managed to get maps of key oil installations,” said Purnia Superintendent of Police NH Khan. Sources said there were 14 key oil units of the Indian Oil Corporation in the State, including 120,000 barrels per day refinery at Barauni, depots and plants to refill LPG cylinders.

The intelligence agencies have already apprehended attacks by militants on oil refineries and nuclear facilities.