JMB man arrested in Kolkata

India's National Investigation Agency yesterday arrested Noor-ul-Haque, suspected financial brain behind the banned militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), in connection with the Burdwan blast in West Bengal last year.

NIA officials said Haque had figured as Naeem during the probe into the blast case. He was apprehended outside the Howrah railway station in Kolkata by NIA sleuths.

A resident of Bakshipur in Murshidabad district, Haque was allegedly collecting cash for running the terror outfit. He carried a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head and is considered to be a close aide of the prime accused Sajid, the arrested chief of JMB.

A senior NIA official said those arrested earlier by the anti-terror agency had often referred Haque's name as Naeem and, therefore, the NIA was not able to make any headway on this account.

It was established that Naeem was the assumed name of Haque only after sustained questioning of some of the arrestees and clues from the probe.

With the arrest of Haque, the number of people nabbed in the case has gone up to 21.

On October 2 last year, a blast took place at a house at Khagragarh that left one Sakil Gazi dead on the spot. Another man named Sovan Mandal died of his wounds at a hospital. The two were suspected to have terror links.

The NIA later found that the actual identity of Mondal was Karim Sheikh. He had misled the West Bengal police about his identity.

The anti-terror agency filed the charge sheet in the case in March this year against 21 people, claiming that the JMB wanted to establish Sharia rule in Bangladesh by overthrowing the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.