Calcutta police’s special task force arrested a suspected Bengal-based Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh leader from Chennai on Tuesday.
Asadullah Sheikh, alias Raja, 35, is wanted in the Bodh Gaya blast that was carried out last year during the Dalai Lama’s visit there, an officer of the special task force said.
Asadullah, originally from the Bhatar area in East Burdwan, was living in a rented house at Nilangarai in Chennai. “He was involved in the Bodh Gaya blast in 2018 and had been on the run since then. We arrested him based on a specific tip-off about his current address,” the officer said.
A court in Alamdur, Chennai, on Tuesday gave cops his transit remand for three days.
During questioning, Asadullah apparently told the sleuths that his superiors in JMB asked him to contact other operatives of the outfit in Chennai and spread their area of influence.
Last week, a special task force team had arrested another alleged JMB member, Mohammed Abul Kashem, alias Kashem, 22, from Canal East Road in north Calcutta.
Kashem was remanded in police custody till September 16.
Shortly before his arrest, the special task force had picked up a suspected top JMB operative, Ejaz Ahmad, from Bihar’s Gaya.
An officer in Lalbazar said the special task force had “successfully nabbed the entire gang of JMB operatives” from Bengal who were behind the Bodh Gaya blast.
“There are a few more who were part of the JMB team that carried out the blast. Some of them are already on our radar,” a special task force officer said.