Key accused in 1998 Coimbatore serial blast case arrested in Karnataka

Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) [India], July 10 (ANI): Tamil Nadu Police have arrested one of the key accused in the 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blasts case and communal murder cases across the state, officials said on Thursday. 

The arrested accused has been identified as Sadiq alias Raja alias Tailor Raja alias Valarntha Raja alias Shahjahan Abdul Majid Makandar alias Shahjahan Shaik. The accused is a native of Coimbatore and has been absconding for the past 29 years and never been arrested since 1996, they said. 

According to a release, acting on specific and credible intelligence, the accused was arrested by a special team from the Anti-Terrorism Squad and Coimbatore City Police in the Vijayapura district of Karnataka. 

The arrested accused is involved in several terror cases and communal murder cases, including the 1998 Coimbatore bomb blasts that claimed 58 lives and injured 250 persons. He is also accused of the 1996 petrol bomb attack in Coimbatore, which resulted in the death of Jail Warden Boopalan; the 1996 Sayeetha murder case in Nagore; and the 1997 murder of Jailor Jayaprakash in Madurai.

In recent weeks, the Anti-Terrorism Squad, in coordination with the Coimbatore City Police, has arrested India’s most wanted accused, Abubacker Siddique and Mohamed Ali alias Yunus, from Annamayya District in Andhra Pradesh. 

The arrest of Sadiq alias Tailor Raja from Vijayapura district, Karnataka, marks the third successful apprehension of a long-absconding accused involved in terror-related cases. 

The blast in 1998 had claimed the lives of 58 people and 250 suffered injuries when 19 bomb explosions rocked Coimbatore city in Tamil Nadu between February 14 and 17, 1998. 

The improvised explosive devices, with time delay mechanisms, had been placed in cars, two-wheelers, abandoned bags, push carts, tea cans, and so on. 

Following the incident, the Tamil Nadu government banned the 'Ummah' organisation, whose founder, Basha, was a mastermind in the incident. 

The Madras High Court, in its verdict in December 2009 on the appeals filed by those convicted by the trial court, said that February 14, 1998, was a day of "unimaginable terror and horror as bombs continuously exploded in the city of Coimbatore." 

Of the 166 accused in the case, the trial court, in August 2007, pronounced 69 people guilty of various offences. (ANI)