The National Investigation Agency has called five persons, including the headman of Chatala village in Barpeta district, to its Guwahati office to find clues in their probe into the Burdwan blast case and jihadi activities in the district.

The NIA called Gaon Burha (village headman) Rashid Ali Ahmed, Jahidul Islam, Batasi Begum, Saiful Islam and Saibar Ali, according to sources in the investigating agency. A NIA team led by Superintendent of Police Debojit Hazarika during their search in the village yesterday had directed the five to present themselves at the NIA office in Guwahati as they had attended a prayer meeting in a house in the village which was close to the one of Sahanur Alam, one of the main accused in the Burdwan blast case, they said.

Batasi Begum is a close friend of Sahanur's arrested wife Sujana Begum, they said adding, Rashid Ali Ahmed was called as many youths were missing from his Chatala village.