Zee Media Bureau/Ritesh K Srivastava
New Delhi: In a major breakthrough, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested four persons in connection with the Patna serial blasts case.
According to reports, SIMI operative Haider Ali alias “Black Beauty” is among those picked up by the NIA in connection with the case. Haidar is believed to be head of the Ranchi module of the Indian Mujahideen, which carried out the Patna blasts.
Others who were arrested are Mujibullah, Numan and Taufiq. They have all been nabbed from the Sithio village on the outskirts of Ranchi by the NIA in a joint operation with Jharkhand Police.
Two of the four accused, namely Haider Ali and Numan Ansari, were produced in the court today.
The NIA team was also reportedly attacked when it reached this village. Locals claimed the team was framing innocent people in the case. Imtiyaz, the first arrest in Patna blasts case, is from the same village.
Eight blasts had rocked Patna in October 2013 just ahead of the now Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s Hunkar rally, wherein seven people had lost their lives.
The NIA had earlier named - Haidar Ali, Mujibollah, Tafiq Ansari and Nauman Ansari - as absconding accused in its chargesheet filed in connection with case. The agency has till now arrested eight accused in the case while one had died while planting a bomb at Patna railway station.
