In a highly covert operation, a team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), on Saturday, brought Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal to Bihar’s Darbhanga district where he stayed and reportedly cultivated a local module.
The team led by the agency’s Deputy Inspector General and Superintendent of Police Vikas Vaibhav, in charge of the Bodh Gaya blast case, took Yasin to the place he had visited and stayed in, back in 2008, the police said.
“He [Yasin] was taken to the Jamalchak village. Basically they just wanted to verify his statement and the location where he said he was staying at. As per my information the NIA took him to just one place,” a police official told The Hindu.
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The NIA flew Yasin on a chartered plane to Darbhanga, landing at an Air Force base there. “It was a covert operation that lasted about three to four hours,” sources said.
Although the police said the NIA made no arrest, a local resident told The Hindu that one person was picked up for questioning from the Rahamkhan mohalla behind the Quila Ghat madrassa. The Leheria Sarai police station under which the mohalla falls said no one was arrested. “They are just questioning. Had they arrested anyone he would have to be produced before the court,” they said.
The Bihar police provided a photographer and vehicles to the NIA team. About eight vehicles reportedly arrived at the mohalla.
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The investigators left Darbhanga by evening. According to official sources, they are expected to take Yasin to Ranchi next, before returning to Delhi.
Between 2008 and 2013, several youths have been arrested from Madhubani and Darbhanga district by the NIA reportedly for terror links. In January this year, the NIA arrested Mohammad Danish Ansari, allegedly a top IM operative, from Dabhanga. He was said to be a close associate of Yasin.