The breakthrough in the Malleswaram bomb blast case has thrown up the possibility of banned terror group Al Umma — behind the Coimbatore serial blasts of 1998 and the attack on RSS office in Chennai in 1993 — being involved in the blast.
On Monday night, three persons were arrested in Tamil Nadu in connection with the blast. Raghavendra H Auradkar, police commissioner, confirmed the arrest but did not disclose the names of the accused.
But police sources identified two of the accused arrested in Chennai as Basheer Sunnathi and Basheer Peer Mohiddeen. A third suspect was arrested in Madurai.
”They have been arrested with the help of Tamil Nadu police. I am not in a position to reveal more about their identity,” said the commissioner. When asked whether Al Umma was behind the act, Auradkar refused to comment on the matter.
But why would Al Umma be involved in the blast? Many theories are floating.
Police claim that Basheer Sunnathi and Basheer Peer Mohiddeen, natives of Coimbatore, and the third suspect, identified as Kichan Buhari — who was convicted for his involvement in the Coimbatore blasts case of 1998 — belong to Al Umma.
Then there is the ghost of Abdul Naseer Madani, an accused in the Bangalore serial blasts of 2008 and who was on trial for his alleged involvement in the Coimbatore blasts, presently lodged in the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison.
Police feel the organisation has close links with Madani and they might have planted the bomb to take revenge against the state government for not only arresting him in the blasts case but also denying him bail.
Another theory is that the group might have taken revenge for killing five terror suspects belonging to the same group in 2002.
The leader of the group Imam Ali and his four associates, including a woman, were killed in a police encounter at MSR Nagar in 2002.
Ali and the suspects in the Malleswaram blast were co-accused persons in the RSS office blast case in Chennai in 1993 and also in the Coimbatore blasts in 1998.
“We are investigating the accused to know the main motive for the attack,” a police official said.
He said the main accused in the attack were still at large.Police sources said the bike used to plant the bomb helped police to nab the accused.
During investigation, the owner of the bike expressed surprise at his bike being used to plant the bomb. The owner told police that he had sold it four years ago but the ownership had not been transferred.
Luckily, the owner provided information about the broker, who helped him sell his bike a few years ago. Police then managed to find out the broker, the second owner and also the third owner. It turned out that the accused had links with the third owner and had managed to get the bike to execute their plan in Bangalore.
The police are now trawling through the call details of the mobile phones to gain more clues. Investigation so far has revealed that the accused hail from Tirunelvelli, Coimbatore, Madurai, Bangalore and also Kerala.
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