The ugly face of terrorism and the deep roots it has taken in Tamil Nadu was unearthed when two al-Ummah activists — Fakrudeen and Bilal Malick — who were held by the police last week, confessed their plans to assassinate BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi last year and senior BJP leader lK Advani in 2011.
Sources in Tamil Nadu Police told The Pioneer that the duo confessed to the Special Investigation Division (SID) during interrogation that they had planned to kill Narendra Modi during his scheduled visit to Madurai in August 2012. Fakrudeen, Malick and Panna Ismail were held last week by the SID of the Tamil Nadu Police. The SID was constituted to nab the killers of five prominent leaders of various Hindu outfits during the last 18 months. Ismail, who was seriously injured during the stand off with the police last Saturday has been admitted to the General Hospital in Chennai where he is recovering.
Fakrudeen and Malick reportedly confessed that the trio masterminded the murders of all the Hindu leaders including BJP State secretary Ramesh and Hindu Munnani leader Vellaaiyappan in July 2013. Modi escaped the bid on his life because he cancelled his trip to Madurai where he was to address a rally of the Saurashtrians, who had made Tamil Nadu their home for the last 400 years.
“There are 10 lakh Saurashtrians all over Tamil Nadu. Hence we thought it would be ideal if we invite Narendra Modi to address a rally of Saurashtrians. Since Madurai itself has two lakh Saurashtrians we selected the city as the venue. Modi was requested to address the rally on August 4, 2012 and we had got a positive reply from his office in Gandhinagar,” SK Narasimhachari (86), leader of the community told The Pioneer over telephone from Madurai.
Narasimhachari said Central and State security agencies had made many trips to Madurai to examine the meeting venue. “It was the agency officials who informed us that Modi’s visit would be cancelled because of security threats,” he said. A senior Intelligence Bureau official said that Modi’s Madurai trip was called off as per the advice given by security agencies.
Fakrudeen and Malick also confessed to their role in planting a pipe bomb on the route through which senior BJP leader lK Advani was to travel on October 27, 2011 as part of his Jan Chethana Yatra. Fakrudeen and Bilal Malick had installed a pipe bomb underneath a culvert on the highway near Thirumangalam over which Advani and his entourage were to travel. However, a farmer happened to see the electric wire connecting the bomb with the timer and he alerted the police, according to the confessions by Fakrudeen.