TN cops likely to question 2008 blast key accused

Mangalore Today News Network

Bangalore, May 26, 2014:  The Tamil Nadu CB CID police who on Saturday announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators of the May 1 blasts on the Bangalore-Guwahati Express train at the Chennai Central Station are also likely to question a key accused from the 2008 serial blast in Bangalore.

Sources said the Tamil Nadu CB CID team are keen to question Safaraz Nawaz a former SIMI and Lashkar-e-Taiba linked Kerala man who was brought from Muscat and arrested in Bangalore in 2009 for financing and bringing in LeT support for the July 25, 2008 serial blasts in Bangalore.

Nawaz, who worked at the SIMI office in New Delhi in 2000, is being considered for questioning on account of his knowledge of SIMI linked networks in south India and to see if he knows anything about the possible identities of the perpetrators of the blast.

Nawaz, who has been in prison awaiting trial for the last five years, is accused of establishing contacts with key LeT operatives in the Gulf like Rashid Abdullah alias Wali alias Rehan in the 2007-08 to procure Rs 5 lakh in funds and logistical assistance for a small group of operatives from Kerala to carry out the July 25, 2008 blasts. Nawaz is also alleged to have helped organize the escape of two of the main perpetrators of the Bangalore serial blasts T Nazir and Shafas to Bangladesh in November 2008 before they were arrested by Bangladeshi authorities and handed over to Indian custody in November 2009.

One of the key theories of investigation into the Chennai train blast is based on the kind of explosive device used. The pipe bomb is known to have been widely employed by SIMI linked groups in Kerala.