Key accused in pipe bomb case arrested
By Express News Service - MADURAI
09th July 2013 09:24 AM
![Mohammed Haneefa (in black shirt) with CB-CID officials after his arrest at Batlagundu in Dindigul district on Monday. (Express Photo)]()
Mohammed Haneefa (in black shirt) with CB-CID officials after his arrest at Batlagundu in Dindigul district on Monday. (Express Photo)
In what is touted as a breakthrough in the two-year-old case relating to the planting of a pipe bomb en route BJP leader L K Advani’s rath yatra in Madurai, officers of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Crime Branch CID on Monday picked up a key accused Mohammed Haneefa alias ‘Tenkasi’ Haneefa (35) from Dindigul district. Police also suspect him to have a hand in the recent bomb blast outside the officer of the BJP headquarters in Bangalore.
Haneefa, who was arrested from Kanavaimedu village, had gone underground along with two other key conspirators ‘Police’ Fakrudeen and Bilal Malik soon after police recovered a pipe bomb from beneath a road over bridge in Alampatti village near Tirumangalam on October 28, 2011. The other two are still at large.
“We have seized explosives substances including detonator powder, sword and a sickle from him. He and the other two absconding accused had planted the bomb on October 27 in a bid to assassinate Advani,” SIT Madurai Deputy Superintendent of Police M Karthikeyan said.
Haneefa had allegedly confessed to his role in the incident. Police claim that he had told them that the bomb was planted at Alampatti as the bridge was too narrow and in the event of a blast it would make it difficult for the BJP leader’s convoy to speed past the area.
Karthikeyan alleged that the RSS Dindigul district secretary Bhaskaran, who had suffered a leg injury in an attack perceived to have been orchestrated by an Islamic outfit, was on Haneefa’s hit list. “We recovered a newspaper clipping along with a photograph of Bhaskaran from Haneefa’s bag leading to suspicions that he could be his next target,” the officer said.
Haneefa and 10 absconding accused in the Coimbatore serial blasts case were allegedly trained by a fundamentalist outfit in Karnataka. Though he was frequently shuttling between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Haneefa had stayed in Dindigul for the past six months. He also faces three attempted to murder cases and is an accused in the murder of a Hindu outfit leader in Tenkasi.
The Tirumangalam JM remanded him in custody.