The Kerala Police has arrested a suspected aide of leT operative Thadiyantavide Nazeer, believed to be the kingpin of Islamist operations in South India and accused in several terror cases including the Bangalore bombings case, after it was learnt that he had exchanged letters
with the militant when he was brought to a court near Kochi in connection with a robbery case.
The police said that seven letters were recovered from Shahnaz, a native of Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district, and four of them were handed over to him by Nazeer. They informed that the notes from Nazeer had contained instructions including those on influencing the witnesses in the Bangalore blasts case.
The letters were believed to have been handed over to Shahnaz by Nazeer the other day when he was brought to the First Class Judicial magistrate Court, Ernakulam in connection with a case pertaining to the robbery of gold from a jeweler at Kizhakkambalam in the district on the night of June 20, 2002. The robbery was allegedly carried out for financing terror operations.
The police took Shahnaz into custody after the police saw him talking to Nazeer in the court premises. The letters were recovered from him in the search that followed. Nazeer, currently lodged in a jail in Bangalore in connection with the blasts case, had allegedly given instructions in two of these letters for influencing the witnesses in this case.
The letters allegedly indicated that Shahnaz had visited Nazeer four times at the Bangalore prison. Sources in the police suspected that these letters and the involvement of Shahnaz were part of a move to sabotage the blasts case in the court. They said Shahnaz could be charged under sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act but they did not elaborate.