[Bangla Daily Star] An alleged mastermind of the grenade attack on an Awami League rally on August 21, 2004, on Bangabandhu Avenue was arrested at the eastern fringe of Kolkata Sunday. Mufti Ibrahim, also nephew to detained Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji) commander Mufti Hannan, was arrested at a flat in Ashwini Nagar of Baguihati of North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, sources in the state Crime Investigation Department (CID) said.
Sources said Ibrahim crossed over to India five years ago and was running an umbrella shop in Baguihati area, our New Delhi correspondent reports.
Although there were reports that he had undergone plastic surgery on his face, the CID said it was yet to be verified.
"We have taken him in custody and are interrogating him," sources in the CID said.
Asked whether he was involved in any kind of anti-social activities in India, they said so far there is no such report but it can be ascertained with certainty only after his interrogation.
Mufti Ibrahim alias Munshi Ibrahim hails from Hiron in Kotalipara upazila of Gopalganj district, a correspondent in Gopalganj reports.
He was allegedly an accomplice of Mufti Hannan in his attempt to kill the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her entourage cabinet ministers and military and civil officials by planting two powerful bombs at Kotalipara on July 23, 2000. He is a fugitive in two cases filed in this connection.
Locals and police claimed Ibrahim studied in Deoband Madrasa in India. He went to Afghanistan via Pakistan and participated in the war in Afghanistan, they claimed.