RSS office bomb attack accused sent to judicial custody

NIA raids 20 locations in three states in connection with attack

Pioneer News Service
Ranchi

Aman Ansari and Sayam Sujan, the accused in the attack on the RSS office at Nivaranpur (under the Chutia police station area) in the capital, Ranchi, were produced before the court of NIA Special Judge Abhimanyu Kumar. Following the completion of their remand period, they were produced in court and subsequently sent to Birsa Munda Central Jail, Hotwar.

On June 16, two individuals had attacked the RSS office at Nivaranpur with petrol bombs on two separate occasions; the aforementioned accused were involved in these attacks. They were arrested from Koderma by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by SSP Rakesh Ranjan.

Two individuals carried out two petrol bomb attacks on the RSS office at Nivaranpur. The attacks took place at 12:36 AM and 12:39 AM on June 16. Approximately 20 people were present inside the Sangh office at the time the bombs were thrown. Fortunately, no damage occurred; had the blast been powerful, it could have resulted in significant loss of life and property.

A petrol bomb made from a glass sauce bottle was thrown near the entrance gate on the ground floor of the RSS office; the glass shattered upon impact, preventing the bomb from exploding. Meanwhile, a second petrol bomb—fashioned from a soft drink bottle—was thrown onto the roof of the RSS office, where it exploded with a bright flash. The NIA subsequently took over the investigation of this case.

Meanwhile, in another development National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out searches at 20 places across several states on Wednesday in connection with a case linked to the hurling of a bomb at the RSS office in Ranchi. The searches are being conducted across 5 locations in Uttar Pradesh, 3 locations in Maharashtra, 2 in Delhi, and one each in Bihar, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Gujarat, Telengana and West Bengal. 

The searches come after all three men arrested for a petrol bomb attack on a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) office in Ranchi, Jharkhand, on Tuesday (June 16) were linked to the ISI-funded Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan and were radicalised in Dubai. It is learnt that Saif Ansari and Aman Ansari travelled to Dubai, where they came in contact with Shahbaz Rana alias Bhatti, a Pakistani national.

“Subsequently, they got radicalised and agreed to spread TTH’s anti-India activities,” sources had said. The accused stayed in constant touch with their handlers through the ‘Botim app’, which functions in Dubai, and WhatsApp. After the attack, they filmed the incident on their mobile phones and sent the video to their handler.

SSP Ranchi, Rakesh Ranjan, had said that the three arrested were identified as Saif Ansari, Aman Ansari and Sayam Sujan. Police tracked them using technical evidence and a Rapido cab used in the incident, and arrested them with help from Bokaro and Koderma police as they were fleeing.