Bangla terror module carried IED in auto, planted at Bodh Gaya: CCTV

SIDDHARTHNAGAR (UP): A sensational 45-minute CCTV footage accessed by TOI showing clinical planning of a terror strike by three members of Bangladesh-based outfit Jamat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) at the Mahabodhi temple in Gaya in January, 2018, is part of crucial evidence submitted by NIA’s Uttar Pradesh wing in the second chargesheet before a Patna court in January this year.

The three terror suspects planted IEDs at the Buddhist shrine, a UNESCO heritage site, while Dalai Lama was holding sermons.
The chargesheet states two terror accused — Adil Sheikh, who planted the explosive inside the temple, and Dilawar Hussain, who hid the second IED at the Sri Lankan monastery hail from Bengal.
The third accused Ataur Arif Hussain, who placed the explosive at one Gate No. 5 of Kalchakra Maidan, 200m from the shrine, is a resident of Assam. Nine suspects involved in terror planning hail from West Bengal’s Murshidabad and Malda districts, bordering Bangladesh.
The footage shows three accused boarding an auto at the Gaya railway station to Rajpur Mor and then taking an e-rickshaw from Gandhi Chowk to Verma crossing near the temple site. In the footage, Adil is seen passing by Jagannath temple carrying a jute bag, which was later tracked down by Bihar police and NSG on the steps of the main temple during a search operation after the first IED blew up.
The terror blueprint was hammered out to target symbols of Buddhist faith to show solidarity with Rohingya Muslims fighting the Myanmar junta and send out a strong message to the Myanmar government, the chargesheet states.
The men also aimed to “overawe the Indian government on vulnerability of people of Buddhist faith in India,” it adds.
The chargesheet discloses that Kausar alias Jahidul Islam, a Bangladeshi national, is the mastermind of the terror attacks.
A CFSL Kolkata report established that ingredients in the IED recovered from the sites are a mixture of explosives, including ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (ANFO).
The conspiracy was first hatched in 2017 when Adil, and his aides travelled from West Bengal to Hyderabad on November 29, 2017, to meet Kausar and then in Chennai in December.
Following the Chennai meet, the men shifted to Bihar where they were holed up in two areas at Jehanabad and Masaurhi. The chargesheet states these men conducted six recces of Bodh Gaya till January 2018.