Kumar Rajiv Nayan
Buxar : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has reportedly summoned the District Transport Officer (DTO), Buxar, Diwakar Jha, for questioning in connection with its investigation into suspected terrorist Sheikh Naim alias Sohail Khan case. Sohail Khan was wanted in a number of bomb blasts and a team of NIA had arrested him from Varanasi on November 28, 2017. Buxar DTO Diwakar Jha, however, said he was not aware of any such summon from the NIA.
The NIA had also arrested a former leader of National Students Union of India (NSUI) and allegedly an agent of Lashkar-e-Taiba Bedar Bakht alias Dhannu Raja from Gopalganj on the revelation of Sohail Khan. The NIA team is continuously conducting raids in Goplaganj after the arrest of Bedar Bakht to arrest a friend of Sohail Khan with whom he had opened a coaching centre at Gopalganj.
Sheikh Naim was wanted in bomb blast cases in Mumbai and Gujarat but could not be arrested at that time. He had escaped after the bomb blast and had opened a coaching centre “Smart Learner Academy Coaching” in a market on Jadopur road at Gopalganj posing as Sohail Khan along with his friend. He had installed computers, projectors etc at a cost of over Rs 50 lakh there and was imparting training to youth and allegedly motivating them to join Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Diwakar Jha, who was post as DTO in Gopalganj in 2015, had allegedly inaugurated his coaching centre. In the meantime, the NIA got an input that Sheikh Naim was running a coaching centre at Gopalganj in the name of Sohail Khan. When a team of NIA reached Gopalganj to arrest Sohail Khan, he managed to escape but later the NIA arrested him from Varanasi.
During interrogation Soahil Khan spilled beans before the NIA and on his revelation a team of NIA arrested Bedar Bakhat from Sareya locality in Gopalganj on December 1, 2017. The NIA also got a photograph of Buxar DTO Diwakar Jha with terrorist Sohail Khan and so summoned the DTO for questioning. DTO Jha on December 9, 2017, said that he had never inaugurated any coaching centre anywhere. Neither the Buxar DM nor the SP confirmed that the NIA had summoned Buxar DTO for questioning.
The NIA has reportedly seized records relating to Sohail’s passport and queried the officer who had attested the passport record and also queried the bank officials where he had opened his account. Sheikh Naim got his Adhar Card made in the name of Sohail Khan at Gopalganj and the official who had made his Adhar Card is also on the radar of the NIA. Sohail Khan had opened his bank account in Indian Bank, Federal Bank and other banks and the NIA has freezed all his bank accounts. The NIA also collected information from the Branch Mangers of these banks about Sohail.
Sohail Khan is also a named accused in the bomb blast at Macca Mosque in Hyderabad on May 18, 2007, in which at least nine persons were killed. After that blast Suoail Khan lived in Kolkata as Sameer.