5 men suspected of planning blasts in Bengaluru arrested

The police commissioner said that the prime accused and some of the others arrested came in contact with Thadiyantavide Nasir, one of the prime accused in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blasts, at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison.

“The arrested accused were radicalised by Nasir. They then hatched a conspiracy to carry out incidents that could affect law and order in the city. Based on information, we managed to arrest the accused. We have also informed central agencies about the arrests,” Dayananda added.

The police commissioner also confirmed that the arrested had received funding.

The police identified the arrested accused as Syed Suhel, Umar, Janid, Mudasir and Zahid and said that they stayed in Kanaka Nagar in Sultanpalya. Sources said the prime accused was named Junaid.

#WATCH | Karnataka: Bengaluru, Police Commissioner, B Dayananda on five suspected terrorists arrested by CCB says, “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… pic.twitter.com/nNlBWpIiXK

— ANI (@ANI) July 19, 2023

According to the police, the prime accused was arrested in a kidnap and murder case in 2017 where about 20 people were arrested for abducting a 27-year-old sheep breeder, Noor Ahmed, from J C Nagar and killing him near Chikkaballapura.

Following his arrest, he was lodged at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison for 18 months before he was released on bail. There, he came in contact with Nasir, the police added. Nasir, who was absconding after the 2008 blasts, was arrested in 2009 by Indian armed forces near the India-Bangladesh border and has been lodged at the central prison since then.

The five accused were produced before court and remanded in police custody for 15 days.