Kolkata: The Special Task Force of the West Bengal Police has claimed to have foiled a major attack on the Bally bridge by arresting a Bihar resident involved in the conspiracy. A police official said that the accused identified as Bhakta Banshi Jha was arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of Kolkata Police from his residence in Bihar on Saturday for plotting a sabotage at Bally Bridge.
Investigators said that the accused is part of the conspiracy by the militants to attack the Bally Bridge and an adjacent temple. However, before Jha could give proper shape to his plan, he was caught in the police net. Detectives said the the man came to Kolkata to do a reccee of the Bally bridge and took some pictures and videos of the bridge.
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Police said that the mastermind behind the conspiracy to attack the bridge and the temple is a Pakistani woman, a suspected agent of the Pakistani intelligence agencies. The arrested Bihar man was in touch with the Pakistani woman to carry out the attack, police said. The police have charged him for taking secret pictures in Chennai, Kolkata, and Delhi and sending them to the Pakistani woman to help in her endeavor.
A police official said that a special unit of Kolkata Police's STF has conducted a search operation at the house of Jha in Bihar. During the search operation, the STF recovered several photographs and incriminating documents from his house, police said. STF detectives of the Kolkata Police have claimed that the arrested Bihar resident has been in contact with the Pakistani woman for several years.
Investigators said that on the basis of examination of multiple phones of Jha, it was found that he had various conversations with several people from neighboring Pakistan with regard to terrorist and subversive activities. Following the arrest, the security around Bali Bridge in West Bengal has been stepped up to thwart any move of sabotage.
