The Madhubani module

Madhubani is one of Bihar’s three most populous border districts with 41.64 lakh,including 7.22 lakh BPL,and with 93 per cent of the total in rural areas. The other two districts,Araria and Kisanganj,are Muslim-dominated while only seven per cent of Madhubani’s population is Muslim.

In October 2005,the IB and the Delhi Police scanned call details from the Jaynagar telephone exchange and found that the key 125-km stretch had made or received far more ISD calls than anywhere else on the border. Details from Basopatti,Jaynagar and Laukaha showed some 500 calls,mostly connecting to Gulf countries,in 2005.

Besides,intelligence reports showed that some two dozen youths had left Madhubani villages and not returned,eight of them for two-and-a-half years or more.

As it turned out,the investigators did not find much on possible Gulf connections. But they did get leads on ISI-backed terrorism on both sides of the border. The six arrests since 2006 highlight the trend.

July 20,2006: A Mumbai ATS team that included Hemant Karkare,investigating the serial train balsts there,arrested Mohammed Kamal Ansari from Basopatti village. Once a workman who repaired bicycle punctures,he had come in contact with Shah Bano,who ran an NGO in Janakpur,Nepal,allegedly a front for the LeT. An IPS officer said Bano got Kamal to recruit youths. It was the first indication of the LeT trying to recruit from Nepal and Bihar,and the first time Madhubani came on the radar.

November 12,2007: Mohammed Sabauddin alias Farhan was arrested from Lucknow,for the attack on the Rampur CRPF camp attack and firing at a Jaipur science conference. He is from Gandhwar village,Sakri,from where Ghayur has been arrested. Farhan,acquitted in one case out of several,is a suspected LeT commander who recruited youths from Madhubani and Janakpur. With a Bachelors degree in Pharmacy from Aligarh Muslim University,he is said to have been a good student as well as a cricketer. His father,Mohammed Abdul Qadir,is a panchayat samiti member who won uncontested from Brahmin-dominated Sanour.

July 9,2008: The UP ATS arrested Jaynagar’s Pappu Khan from Lucknow for his alleged role in Delhi’s Sarojini Nagar blast.

October 14,2008: The UP ATS arrested Mohamed Khalil,another Jaynagar resident,from Lucknow for the Delhi blast.

August 17,2009: Omar Madani of Basopatti,allegedly operating from Mahua village of Nepal,was arrested from Delhi,where had gone to “deliver a target” to the LeT. Accused of training recruits,Madani was a teacher,much respected locally.

November 24,2011: Ghayur and Ajmal were arrested for the Jama Masjid,German Bakery and Chinnaswamy Stadium attacks.

Despite the pattern,the police have had to proceed with caution. “We often get IB tip-offs but we have to very cautious as any unwarranted arrest can lead to local resistance,” an officer said.

“In most cases,there would be no signs of affluence at home. There seemed to be a plan not to improve conditions at home,as in Ghayur’s case,” said an Intelligence source.

To arrest Ghayur. Sakri police had to use tact and deception. They engaged a constable,who asked Ghayur’s father for six successive days if the son had come home. The police knew Ghayur stayed at the hostel of Darbhanga’s Ahmadia Saifia Madrasa,yet felt it was necessary to take his family into confidence first.

Ghayur was visiting an aunt in the next village when police called him with a story about needing his help to crack a passport case. Ghayur,a preacher at age 25,had helped police before. When he was detained,police faced immediate resistance,till they convinced Ghayur’s father that he would be released after questioning. They then had him transported to Patna,and later to Delhi.

Because of the porous border,suspects often cross over despite the presence of the border force SSB. Houses and plots often overlap the border,making entry and exit easy. Calls across the border are possible at local rates as jammers often don’t work.

Madhubani’s BJP MLA,Ramdev Mahato,blamed the “open Nepal border”,saying,“Terrorists have been luring misguided youth.” Zilla parishad member Saeeda Bano,who knows Ghayur’s father but not the son,called the trend dangerous.

Local residents said they were surprised by Ghayur’s arrest,having never suspected him of such links,but hoped he is innocent.

Ghayur’s father Nazrullah Jamali believes his son did not cross the border. The Delhi Police investigation,too,suggested that he might have preferred to stay back home so that he could operate from the madrasa,where he was pursuing a Masters degree in Arabic. With Ghayur’s arrest,the madrasa has come under the scanner.