SRINAGAR: The suspected Kashmir militant arrested by the West Bengal police has been taken by Jammu Kashmir Police on a transit remand till December 31, reports appearing in the media suggest. He has been accused of being a recruit of the banned outfit, Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen and has reportedly admitted to various trips to Bangladesh and Nepal.
Munshi was arrested from Canning in South 24 Parganas, bordering Bangladesh, in a joint operation of West Bengal and Jammu & Kashmir police. He was allegedly trying to crossover to Bangladesh. The recoveries include two cell phones, some hand-written notes also having some numbers and Rs 50,000. He was arrested from a Kashmir family’s residence where he had gone to stay. A women from the house told reporters that Munshi was her “sister-in-law’s husband”.
“He was planning to use the river route to travel to Bangladesh and eventually escape to Pakistan,” a West Bengal STF officer was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. “Therefore, the main focus of the investigation is the waterway route used by him. How many times did he use the route, whether he was recruiting people from West Bengal, whether he was in charge of any sleeper cell in West Bengal? These are the questions, the answers of which we are looking for.”
Police believe that Munshi was taking Sundarbans-Bangladesh waterway route to get into Bangladesh. “Canning is located in the Sunderban delta. The Sundarbans Forest sprawls over 10,000 sq km across India and Bangladesh, with 40 per cent of it in India,” The Indian Express reported.
Right now, police are looking for the people he met and the calls he made to. His social media is also being investigated. Police have told reporters that Munshi admitted having Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan on fake Pakistani passports.
A court at Alipore in Kolkata granted Jammu Kashmir Police a transit remand until December 31.
Police have alleged that the 1990-trained militant was an alleged expert in IEDs and weapons handling and was accused of having a role in the 2011 murder of Shaukat Shah, a leader of the Ahl-i-Hadith. He has been jailed many times, it added.
Munshi’s arrest, it is interesting to mention, has triggered a political controversy with the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) accusing the Centre of failing to prevent infiltration and cross-border militancy. “The Border Security Force (BSF) is responsible for border security. If the central government ensures proper sealing of the border, such incidents will not happen,” India Today quoted Bengal Minister Firhad Hakim saying. “The West Bengal police, under Mamata Banerjee’s administration, have caught terrorists. We have zero tolerance for anti-national activities. Our country always comes first.” The centre has said that they would require land to fence the border but the West Bengal government is not giving it. “We will take 100 per cent responsibility if the Bengal government gives us land for complete border fencing,” Education Minister Sukanta Majumder has said, asserting MHA has already requested 70 BSF outpost lands.
