The Central Crime Branch (CCB) apprehended five Muslim men in Bengaluru on Wednesday for their alleged involvement in planning a terror attack in the capital city of Karnataka.
The arrested individuals, identified as Suhail, Omar, Zahid, Mudasir, and Faisal, all hailing from Bengaluru and aged between 25 and 35, were previously arrested in 2017 and had been serving an 18-month sentence in connection with a murder case. However, they were released in 2019, raising concerns about their activities during their time out of custody.
“All five identified as Sayed Suhel, Umar, Janid, Mudasir, and Jahid, were accused in a 2017 murder case and were in Parappana Agrahara Central jail where they came in contact with terrorists,” the CCB officials told ANI. “We are further looking into the matter,” they added.
The CCB disclosed that the suspects were found in possession of explosive materials during the arrest. Additionally, the CCB said that were carrying firearms and daggers, further raising alarm over the potential scale and severity of the planned attack.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner Dayanand B stated that the five individuals had been radicalized by a notorious accused individual named T Nazeer, currently confined in Bengaluru Central Jail.
Dayanand said, “CCB has succeeded in tracking down the people who planned to commit acts of vandalism in Bangaluru city. Five accused have been arrested….Seven pistols, many live bullets, a walkie-talkie and other items were recovered from them. One of the accused who is absconding provided these weapons to those arrested to carry out certain subversive activities.”
“All the accused including the one who is absconding were a part of a murder case in 2017. In Jail, they met Nazir, an accused in 2008 Bengaluru serial blasts and he seems to have radicalized these individuals,” he said.
Basavaraj Bommai, a former Chief Minister of Karnataka and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), expressed his view that the investigation of the case should be taken up by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
“There is a big conspiracy. They wanted to do serial bomb blasts in Bengaluru. This case should be handed over to NIA,” he said.
Ongoing investigations into the matter are currently in progress, and further details are yet to be disclosed.
(with ANI inputs)
