In a swoopdown on Friday, Madurai Police foiled a massive plan hatched by a group of Islamic extremists to assassinate various leaders of the Hindu Front including its founder Rama Gopalan. Two live pipe bombs were recovered by the police team which also arrested four extremists from Madurai and Theni. All four were sent to ten days judicial custody by the Madurai First Class Magistrate late Friday evening.
Sources in Police said A Abdullah (30) who was arrested from Viswanatha Nagar in Madurai confessed to the Police about the plan to kill the leadership of the Hindu Front which was meeting at Palladam near Coimbatore on Friday. A pipe bomb was seized from the residence of Abdullah.
Abdullah’s revelations led the police to 43-year-old Abdul Rehman, a tailor by profession at Gandhipuram Third Street in the city. The second pipe bomb was seized from Rehman’s tailoring shop.
Abdullah and Rehman led the police to Kader Sherif (23) of Ismail Puram, another accomplice in their plan of action, who was also arrested. Police said they took into custody Syed (45) from Theni on Thursday, who is believed to have spilled the beans about the assassination plan.
In South west Tamil Nadu, SP Muthu, also known as Marimuthu, a 53-year-old district level functionary of Tirupur BJP was found dead in his coconut plantation on Friday. Family members and party colleagues alleged foul play in the death of Muthu, who was found hanging from a tree with his hands and legs tied with ropes. A portrait of Prime Minister Narendra Modi garlanded with slippers, the BJP flag and a black flag were found at a lamp post near the body. His relationstold reporters that Muthu had kept the picture of the Prime Minister and the party flag in his house compound as well as the coconut farm. Police is probing the case.
Three Hindu Front leaders have been murdered during the ;last two months in Coimbatore-Tirupur belt and police is yet to make any breakthrough in the investigation.
Intelligence officials say they were shocked over the murders of various Sangh Parivar activists and leaders happening in Tamil Nadu. “The same is the case with Kerala and we have to see these murders in a broader perspective,” said an intelligence wing official.