The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a charge sheet in a special court in Guwahati against five members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a Bangladeshi terror outfit banned in the neighbouring country and in India.
The charge was filed against Hafizur Rahman, Yakub Ali, Sariful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Mohammed Hafiz Safiqul Islam, all residents of Barpeta district in Assam arrested in July last year.
According to the charge sheet, the case came to light with the arrest of Hafizur Rahman from his house in Barpeta and the seizure of a country made revolver, several rounds of live ammunition and some Jihadi literature.
Based on his interrogation, the local police registered a case and arrested the four other accused. The case registered under sections of Arms Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was later transferred to the NIA.
Investigations by the NIA revealed that all the accused were recruited to JMB by one Sahanur Alom, a resident of Barpeta who was arrested by the agency in 2014 for his involvement in the Burdwan blast case of West Bengal in which two people were killed.
Alom has already been convicted and is serving a eight year jail sentence on charges of “conspiracy to commit terrorist acts in India and recruiting and training other members of JMB”.
“Accused persons in the instant case have undergone training as JMB cadres in Barpeta at the house of Sahanur Alom and some accused were also trained at Simulia Madrasa in West Bengal,” said a NIA release.
The charge sheet states that the five accused procured weapons and ammunition with the aim of committing terrorist acts.
