Police arrests key accused in 1998 Coimbatore bomb blast case

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Police’s Anti Terrorism Squad on Thursday said it has arrested Sadiq, a key accused in the 1998 Coimbatore bomb blast case, in which 58 people were killed and 250 others were injured.

Also, a key accused in communal murder cases across Tamil Nadu, he has been absconding for 29 years and never been arrested since 1996.

Acting on “specific and credible intelligence,” a special team of Anti-Terrorism Squad and Coimbatore City Police arrested the accused at Vijayapura district of Karnataka, the ATS said in an official release.

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Sadiq, a native of Coimbatore used several aliases and it includes Raja, Tailor Raja, Valarntha Raja, Shahjahan Abdul Majid Makandar and Shahjahan Shaik. He is also an accused in 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 @ Yunus from Annamayya District in Andhra Pradesh.

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

Chief Minister M K Stalin lauded the Anti Terrorism Squad and the intelligence officials who guided the special unit for the arrest of Sadiq and by doing so, establishing yet again that Tamil Nadu is at the forefront in the country as regards internal security.

In order to pay special attention to anti-terror tasks, the ATS, under the intelligence wing, was formed in 2023 after the DMK assumed power, he said.

The ATS, through their excellent work, have arrested three important accused including Abubacker Siddique, who could not be apprehended during the past 30 years by the Tamil Nadu police, Central government’s probe agencies and police departments of neighbouring states. Stalin thanked Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh police for their support in arresting the three accused persons.

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