Ex-terrorists, separatists nabbed for bid to revive JKLF & Hurriyat
This was the first attempt to regroup these anti-India and terrorist outfits after August 2019 when top Hurriyat leaders were arrested.
More arrests in connection with the October 23 Coimbatore car blast case is likely to take place on Friday, sources in the Tamil Nadu police said.
The sources added that the police have already zeroed in on some persons who had given logistical and other support to the accused in the case.
While addressing the media earlier in the day, Coimbatore City Police Commissioner, V. Balakrishnan said the accused were planning a series of killings and destruction of some institutions in Coimbatore and adjacent areas.
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Friday’s development comes after an FIR was registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the case.
Meanwhile, the NIA’s Deputy Inspector General (DIG) K.B. Vandana is already in Coimbatore and has conducted several rounds of meetings with the Tamil Nadu Police officers.
On October 23, Jameesha Mubin, a 25-year-old engineering graduate, was killed in the car explosion.
He was previously questioned by the NIA in 2019 regarding his social media contact with the main accused in the Easter Day bombings in Sri Lanka.
The probe agency is also investigating whether C.A. Rauf, the Kerala state secretary of the banned Islamist organization, Popular Front of India (PFI) who was in hiding ever since the outfit was banned, had any role in motivating the youngsters including Mubin to take the extreme terror steps.
The NIA sleuths late Thursday night arrested Rauf from his residence in Pattambi located in Kerala’s Palakkad district.
The Tamil Nadu police had immediately after the car blast arrested five accomplices of Mubin which included Mohammed Thalka, son of Nawab Khan who is the brother of Al-Umma founder and the main culprit in the Coimbatore serial bomb blast of 1998, February 14 in which 56 people died and 200 people injured.
The others arrested are — Mohammed Azharuddin, Mohammed Riyaz, Firoz Ismail, and Mohammed Navas Ismail.
All the six arrested are foisted with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act (UAPA).
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