A key accused in last week’s Bhagalpur blast case surrendered before a local court on Monday and was sent to 14-day judicial custody, police said.
07 MARCH: A key accused in last week’s Bhagalpur blast case surrendered before a local court on Monday and was sent to 14-day judicial custody, police said.
The man, Mohammad Azad Malik, owns the house in the densely populated Kajwalichak area of Bhagalpur city, where the high-impact blast took place on March 3.
Malik came under police investigation after investigation revealed that he had bought a house of a man named Lilavati, in which he lived with his family in one part as rent, while the other part was used for his iron grille manufacturing unit.
Malik had gone missing after the blast while one of the accused, Lilavati, also died in the blast.
Police said that it was initially believed that the blast was caused by illegal manufacture of firecrackers in the house, but the recovery of iron nails and other explosives from the site pointed to bomb making.
Additional Director General of Police (HQ) Jitendra Singh Gangwar said, “The Special Investigation Team (SIT) will visit adjoining states after getting some important leads in the case.”
Bhagalpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Babu Ram said Malik surrendered at around 11 am. “The police were raiding his hideouts but had also gone to his in-laws house in Muzaffarpur,” he said, adding that the police would seek his remand on Tuesday for further questioning.
Earlier, the police arrested Naveen Mandal alias Naveen Aatishbaaz, who was injured in the blast and is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Bhagalpur along with two others. In the blast, Mandal sustained injuries on both his legs.