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Terror suspects had no specific targets in State: police chief

Special Correspondent

‘Suspects were still in initial stages of planning attacks’

They were waiting for a consignment of explosives
Anti-terrorist squad to be established in Bangalore

— Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

Tackling terror: Director-General and Inspector-General of Police K.R. Srinivasan (right) and DGP (CoD) Ajai Kumar Singh addressing presspersons in Bangalore on Sunday.

BANGALORE: Director-General and Inspector-General of Police K.R. Srinivasan said here on Sunday that the suspected terrorists, whose module was recently busted by the Davangere police, had no specific targets in Karnataka.

Mr. Srinivasan told presspersons that the suspected terrorists were still in the initial stages of planning attacks when they were arrested.

Director-General of Police (Corps of Detectives) Ajai Kumar Singh, who is supervising the investigations, said they had no definite inputs about the terror module having obtained a huge quantity of RDX from abroad. However, it had come to light that the terror suspects were “waiting for a consignment,” he said.

Dr. Singh said that terror suspect Riyazuddin Nasir had not admitted to his complicity in the explosions in Hyderabad. “Neither during narco analysis nor during interrogation has he admitted that he was involved in the attacks,” he said. This was in response to reports in the media that said that Nasir had confessed that he had taken part in the blasts at Mecca Masjid, Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat in Hyderabad.

Dr. Singh said Nasir and his arrested accomplice Asadullah Abubakar would be subjected to another round of narco analysis on Wednesday. He denied reports that an MBBS student from KIMS in Hubli, Mirza Baig, had been arrested in Gulbarga. He said that though the police had found that some former activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) were connected with the network, there were some others who were not associated with SIMI.

To a query, Mr. Srinivasan said an exclusive anti-terrorist squad (ATS) would be established in Bangalore soon and a similar unit would be created for the rest of the State. “We already have an ATS and you know better about it,” he remarked referring to the sad state of affairs in the anti-terrorist squad.

Though some elements connected with terror network had been traced in Karnataka, one need not fear about the safety of the people here, Mr. Srinivasan said.

Dr. Singh said Karnataka was not “untouched” by terrorists, and terror modules had been busted in Kolar, Bijapur and Gulbarga in 2005 subsequent to the attack on the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.

Bangalore city Police Commissioner Neelam Achuta Rao; Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Gopal B. Hosur; and Deputy Inspector-General of Police (CoD) Alok Kumar were present.

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