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2 Coimbatore blasts fugitives arrested in Bombay

In a well-planned operation, the Crime Branch of the Bombay police arrested two fundamentalists involved in the sensational Coimbatore bomb blasts of February 1998, which claimed several lives.

The two men arrested were Mohammad Abdul Azeez Mohammad Gaus (25), a resident of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, and M S Khaja Nizamuddin alias Umar alias Kuttiappa (25), a resident of Malapallayam Thirunavelli in the same state. There was a reward of Rs 200,000 for Azeez's arrest.

The duo has been handed over to the special investigation team of the Madras police for further investigations, Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) D Shivanandan, who supervised the operation, said.

The two men were arrested by a special team at Kalyan in adjoining Thane district this morning.

Under sustained interrogation, they reportedly confessed to their involvement in several cases, including the Coimbatore blasts, the bomb explosion in the Hindu Munnani head office in Madras in 1995, and the bomb blasts at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh building in Madras on August 8, 1993.

Police said they were also involved in a series of murders, including the sensational killing of RSS leader Ramachandran at Tambaram in January 1997. Another RSS leader, Ranganathan, was allegedly killed by them in January 1997 in Madras.

Shivanandan said the accused had confessed to their affiliation to the fundamentalist organisation Al-Umma, which was banned in Tamil Nadu after the Coimbatore blasts.

The Tamil Nadu director general of police had published a list of 18 wanted fundamentalists in 1998 and announced a reward of Rs 200,000 each for their arrest. Azeez's name was on that list. Nizamuddin, who had been proclaimed an offender by the Central Bureau of Investigation, was presumed dead.

The two men were produced before Bombay's Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, K H Holambe Patil, who granted a transit remand.

UNI

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