Anti-Terror Agency To Take Over Assam Terror Module Cases
NDTV
The arrests have been made in connection to the busting of a sleeper cell module of Ansarul Bangla Team (ABT), a Bangladesh-based Jihadi group.
Assam police have been asked to hand over to the central anti-terror agency the cases pertaining to the arrest of persons allegedly linked to the Al Qaida in Subcontinent (AQIS), said Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The latest arrest in the case was of a Madrassa teacher, Mufti Hafizur Rehman, in Goalpara district. The arrests have been made in connection to the busting of a sleeper cell module of Ansarul Bangla Team (ABT), a Bangladesh-based Jihadi group known as a wing of AQIS, in the district earlier this week. This was the sixth such AQIS-backed module busted since April. As many as 35 people have been arrested in this connection since then.
The Assam government's decision to hand over the terror cases to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) comes amid a section of Opposition leaders and lawmakers raising concerns over the arrest of only Imams, Muslim clerics and Madrassa teachers in connection to these modules.
Chief Minister Sarma has advised Director General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta to hand over the case to the NIA following initial investigation and registration of a case regarding the modules.
