HuJI man, aide picked up from Bihar

As part of a nationwide crackdown on suspected terrorists, two persons were arrested in Bihar's Kishanganj district late on Saturday in connection with Wednesday’s serial blasts in Mumbai.

The main suspect has been identified as Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) operative Mohammad Riyazul Sarkar, said to be a resident of North Dinajpur, West Bengal.

In the course of interrogation, Sarkar had first identified himself as Akash Khan, a resident of Gujarat. Later he gave various names and addresses.

Mohammad Mahtab Alam, the owner of the house where Sarkar was staying for the last 15 days, is also in police custody. One of his hands is said to have burn injuries.

Director general of police Neelmani said the security forces were verifying the identity of Sarkar, who had been residing in the area for the past seven days. He knew Kannada, Gujarati and Bengali, Neelmani added.

Sources in the district police said Sarkar had been taken to a police station for questioning by a team of special branch and officials of the Intelligence Bureau and National Investigating Agency. They will be handed over to the Mumbai police later.

Three cell phones and some documents in the Marathi language were recovered from Sarkar, a police official said.

Some days ago, a person with a fake passport was arrested in Kishanganj district. “While the passport had the photograph of Mohammed Taveraj, it has been issued in favour of Mohammed Rahimuddin, son of Ajsahin of Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh and was issued by Hyderabad passport office in 2006,” superintendent of police RK Mishra said.