Kwakta IED blast of June 21 : Remand for two

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Oct 25: The Special Court of the NIA Manipur has sent two accused persons arrested in connection with June 21 Kwakta IED blast to judicial custody till November 8 and directed the Judicial Magistrate First Class Imphal East to record the statement of one of the accused.
The accused persons, Md Noor Hussain alias Tomba (37) and Md Islauddin Khan (27) appeared before the Court via video conference. While sending them to judicial custody, the Court ordered the JMFC Imphal East to record the statement of Md Islauddin.
The two accused persons hail from Kwakta Ward Number 8, Bishnupur district.
Md Noor Hussain alias Tomba is son of (L) Babu and Md Islauddin Khan is son of Md Jeharuddin.
It has been revealed that Md Noor Hussain drove the IED laden SUV and parked it above the culvert on Tiddim Road at Kwakta Ward Number 7 area where the blast occurred and injured three including children on June 21.
A case was initially registered by the Phougakchao Ikhai police station and later, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) re-registered the case and started investigation.
Notably, the two persons, Md Noor Hussain and Md Islauddin are among three arrested by the NIA in the Kwakta SUV blast case so far. The NIA had first arrested Seiminlun Gante in  connection with the case on September 30 from Churachandpur district.
The NIA has accused Seiminlun Gangte of waging war against India in collusion with militants outfits based in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Md Noor Hussain was arrested by the NIA from  Silchar, Cachar district, Assam, on October 16.
Md Islauddin was arrested by the NIA from Kwakta on October 19.
Today, the two persons were produced before the NIA Special Court in the afternoon via video conference.
During the hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that interrogation has revealed that Md Noor Hussain was involved in the SUV blast case.
Md Noor Hussain "helped" other accomplices including members of "terrorist gang" by driving the IED laden Scorpio and parking it over the culvert on Tiddim Road at Kwakta for executing the blast on June 21. He later "extracted" a person sent by the leader of the terrorist gang from the blast site.
The prosecutor further told the Court that Md Islauddin's involvement in the case was revealed by Md Noor Hussain and he was later arrested as such. He also helped in the extraction of a person sent by the leader of the "terrorist gang" from the blast site.
The Court then remanded both the accused persons to judicial custody till November 8 and ordered Judicial Magistrate First Class Imphal East to record the statement of Md Islauddin.
The Court directed the Superintendent of Manipur Central Jail to produce Md Islauddin for recording his statement after receiving an order from JMFC Imphal East and ordered him to keep the accused in segregation till his statement is recorded.