TN realtor gets parcel time bomb

As the person brought the parcel after Umars office had closed Friday,he gave it to Arumugam,a goldsmith next door. Saturday morning,Arumugam gave it one of Umars employees. He found the contents and informed the police,who defused it.

Police said Umar was once connected to the proscribed Al Umma,the organisation that allegedly orchestrated the Coimbatore serial blasts in the late 90s. As the scare happened at a time when Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was to attend a function in the temple city which was cancelled police are probing all angles.

Investigating officials are searching for the youth who handed over the parcel to Arumugam,and are also questioning Umar and his business associate,Jamal Mohideen.

This is the latest in a series of scares and blasts in Madurai a low intensity crude bomb went off inside a garbage bin at a crowded bus stand in the city May last year; a pipe bomb was recovered from under a causeway on a route BJP leader LK Advani was to take during his Jan Chetna Yatra last October; a tiffin box carrying explosives was recovered from a State Transport Corporation bus in December; and a low-intensity blast happened in May .