Courtesy:Deccan Cronicle
Bangalore: The three prime accused in the April 17 Malleswaram blast case – “Police” Fakhruddin, Ponna Ismail and Bilal Malik, who were arrested in a joint operation by the Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu police from a house in Puttur in Chitoor district on the AP-TN border in the first week of October have reportedly confessed to their involvement in the terror attack.
According to official sources the three alleged suspects, currently in judicial custody in Tamil Nadu have allegedly told the police that they wanted to bomb the BJP headquarters in Bangalore on the eve of the Assembly elections to create maximum casualties. “They have confessed to their involvement in the Bangalore blast case and five murders, including those of four leaders of Hindu outfits in Tamil Nadu,” said an officer.
The group, including the 12 accused, who were recently chargesheeted in the Malleswaram blast case by the Central Crime Branch of Bangalore police belong to a local module in Tamil Nadu and are the followers of late Imam Ali, the dreaded terrorist of the All India Jehad Committee (AIJC), who was gunned down in a joint police encounter in Bangalore in 2002 at a house in Raj Mahal Vilas Extension.
“The group members were reportedly trained by Pakistans Inter Services Intelligence and later by the proscribed terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen in the early and mid 1990s.This is a local module and we have not found any foreign linkages so far. We are investigating their funding sources,” he added.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have launched a massive hunt for the mysterious prime terror suspect AbuBaqr Siddique, who is said to be the main accused and the prime motivator behind the blast.