NIA arrests MBBS student from Bengal's Uttar Dinajpur for alleged links with terror outfits

Kolkata, Nov 15 (PTI) An MBBS student has been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in West Bengal's Uttar Dinajpur district for his alleged links to terror outfits, a senior police officer said on Saturday.

The accused, identified as Janisur Alam alias Nisar Alam, an MBBS student of Al-Falah University, Haryana, and resident of Ludhiana with ancestral roots in Konal village near Dalkhola in Uttar Dinajpur, was picked up from the Surjapur Bazar area on Friday morning, he said.

Alam was arrested from the Surjapur Bazar area in Uttar Dinajpur while returning from a wedding ceremony at his ancestral home, on suspicion of alleged terror links by sleuths of the NIA, he said.

"The youth is a medical student of Haryana's Al-Falah University. He had travelled to his ancestral home with his mother and sister to attend a relative's wedding. Officers of the NIA intercepted him on his way back after tracking his movements through mobile-tower location data," the officer said.

"A few days ago, there was a wedding in the family, and Nisar had come home to attend the event," the officer said, adding that they were suspecting his involvement in activities related to the recent Delhi blast case.

However, the NIA was yet to provide detailed information on how Nisar is allegedly linked to the blasts.

Another officer earlier stated that Alam was also seen "loitering suspiciously" near a station in the area before being detained.

"During questioning, he allegedly attempted to flee, following which he was taken into custody," a source in the central probe agency said.

"We are yet to establish whether he has any direct connection with the Delhi blast. Digital devices and documents were seized from his possession," he said.

The accused is currently being taken to Siliguri for further questioning and investigation.

Relatives and family members said Nisar was a quiet, studious individual with no apparent connection to any such events.

"He was a very calm and polite young man, always busy with his studies and showing no interest in anything else. To think that he could be connected to an explosion is simply unbelievable," the accused's uncle said.

Nisar's mother claimed that her son has always been law-abiding, and the accusations against him are beyond comprehension.

The NIA was yet to comment officially on the nature of the charges against Nisar or any specific evidence linking him to terrorism.

Thirteen people were killed and several were injured in the blast near the Red Fort in New Delhi. The government had termed the blast near the Red Fort as a "terrorist incident".

After the Delhi blast, the NIA had also raided the residence of migrant worker Moinul Hasan at Nabagram in Murshidabad district on Wednesday, an officer said.

"Hasan had worked intermittently in Delhi and Mumbai, and during his time in Delhi, he shared accommodation with a Bangladeshi national with whom he is believed to have maintained long-term contact," the NIA source told PTI.

The central probe agency detectives are examining whether Hasan had any links to members of extremist organisations during that period, or he was in touch with the youth arrested from Uttar Dinajpur. PTI SCH RG