Jharkhand Police have arrested three people allegedly involved in an attack using a handmade explosive device and a petrol bomb at an RSS office in Nivaranpur under the Chutia police station area of Ranchi on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday.
One of the arrested accused, Saif Ansari, was injured in a police encounter after allegedly attempting to escape from custody by overpowering a police personnel on duty. He sustained a bullet injury in his leg and was admitted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi, for treatment.
A police official familiar with the developments said three accused were arrested on Wednesday night. Two of them, Aman Ansari and Saif Ansari, were lodged at the Kotwali police station lock-up for interrogation.
“Saif requested the police to allow him to use the washroom. He allegedly escaped through the exhaust fan opening. The police personnel assigned to guard him failed to notice the escape as he had kept the washroom tap running, preventing them from suspecting any foul play,” the official said.
SP (City) Paras Rana confirmed the development while speaking to mediapersons at Kotwali police station on Thursday.
“At around 11.30 am, Saif escaped from custody. CCTV footage showed him moving towards Garikhana. Subsequent verification revealed that he was heading towards Mandar. A police team chased him. When cornered, he allegedly snatched a firearm from a police personnel and fired two to three rounds. The police retaliated in self-defence, and a bullet hit his leg. He was subsequently admitted to a hospital for treatment,” Rana said.
Rana said that of the three arrested accused, one is a resident of Ranchi while the other two are from Lohardaga.
“The two accused from Lohardaga were arrested from a moving train near Koderma,” he said.
A police official associated with the investigation said preliminary findings indicate a possible terror link behind the attack. According to the official, one of the accused had previously worked in Dubai, where he allegedly came into contact with anti-national elements, including Rana Hussain alias Rana Ji and Shahbaz Alam alias Bhatti.
The official claimed that investigations had revealed links between the two men and TTH (Tehreek-e-Taliban Hind or an affiliated module).
“These handlers allegedly radicalised the accused in Dubai and sent him to India with a specific mission to target the RSS provincial office in Ranchi,” the official said.
When asked about the alleged terror link, SP (City) Rana declined to comment.
“No comments on this matter at present,” he said.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rakesh Rajan later confirmed the arrests during a press conference held in the evening. He said an FIR had been registered at Chutia police station under Sections 118(2), 109(1), 324(5), 324(6), 298, 326(G) and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Sections 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act and Sections 16 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The SSP said that apart from Saif Ansari and Aman Ansari, another accused, Sayam Sujan, had also been arrested in connection with the case.
“Saif and Aman were arrested near Gujhandi Railway Station in Koderma with the assistance of Bokaro and Koderma police. Subsequently, based on their confessional statements, Sayam Sujan was arrested from Ranchi during a raid,” Rajan said.
The SSP did not rule out the possibility of an international connection.
“In the preliminary investigation and interrogation, the involvement of the accused with any international module cannot be ruled out,” he said.
