Kerala - Kozhikode   

Activist of banned organisation held

KOZHIKODE: In a major breakthrough, the Kozhikode Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) on Thursday arrested an activist of the banned Jemyathul Isahithiya who was involved in the murder of a Rashtriya Sweyamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader at Vadanapally in Thrissur district 13 years ago.

A team of officials nabbed Firoz Abdulla, 33, from a rented house at Thalakkulam, near Chavakkad in Thrissur district, at 5 p.m.

He is the thirdaccused in the murder of the RSS activist on Chilanka beach at Vadanapally in 1995. Acting on an intelligence input received at the office of CB-CID Superintendent of Police T.V. Kamalakshan, a team of officials led by Deputy Superintendent of Police B. Ashokan and Circle Inspector Gireesh P. Sarathy arrested the accused.

Firoz was produced before the First Class Judicial Magistrate Court at Chavakkad and remanded to judicial custody at the Chavakkad sub-jail. The Crime branch had earlier arrested him soon after the murder. However, he escaped to Saudi Arabia after he was released on bail. He worked as a labourer in the Gulf nation. Four years ago, he returned to the State and has been doing odd jobs at Thalakkulam. He hails from Anchangadi.

Officials said they were also investigating whether Firoz was involved in any other murder cases. They are probing his links with extremist outfits now operating in the State. The banned Jemyathul Isahithiya is now defunct, but investigating officers believe that its activists have either formed new outfits or infiltrated into other organisations similar to the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

There were 11 accused in the murder of Rajeevan. The Vadanapally police had initially investigated the case. Later, it was handed over to Crime Branch in Kozhikode.

The Crime Branch has also intensified its search for a prime accused, Saidalavi Anwari hailing from Pernithalmanna in Malappuram district, in the case of the murder of K. Mani, an RSS leader in Palakkad, in 1994. There were eight accused in the case and most of them are absconding.

Saidalavi, another suspected Jemyathul Isahithiya activist, used to conduct classes at madrassas propagating religious extremism and mobilising funds for carrying out murders against RSS activists during the mid Nineties following the demolition of Babri Masjid.

Several Muslim extremists organisations had cropped up in the State during that period.

The government had banned 13 outfits, including the Jemyathul Isahithiya, Crime Branch officials said.

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