Narayana Swamy
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Aug 31: The interrogation of 11 Indian Mujahideen (IM) suspects, who were arrested on Thursday August 30, has revealed that senior politicians and media men were among their hit list.
Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, RSS chief, South India, Pramod Muthalik, Sri Rama Sene chief, Jagadish Karanth, state Bajrang Dal chief, journalist Vishweshawara Bhat, editor-in-chief of Kannada Prabha and Suvarna TV, Pratap Simha, columnist in Kannada Prabha, Vijaya Sankeshwara, proprietor of Kannada daily Vijayavani, Prahlad Joshi, senior RSS and BJP leader were in the hit list of the suspects, it is learnt.
Dr Jafer, Rehaman Siddique, Imran, Hussain
Rahman Siddique, a journalist with a Bangalore-based English daily, was among the 11 suspects arrested.
It is said that Bangalore CCB police were following these suspects for the last six months, and based on accurate information they arrested them on Thursday.
Among the arrested, Shoiab was a scientist in DRO and his father a railway employee, and Ejaz was an MCA student. A few youngsters were studying in a Madrasa. Jafer's father was a forest official in Udupi, while Siddique's father is a doctor.
Suspects Trained in Gulf
R Ashok, state home minister who hailed the Bangalore CCB police, said that the network of terror suspects was not only restricted to Karnataka but also spread to Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
"With the help of the centre we will try to establish an anti-terror unit in the state," he said.
"All 11 suspects are highly qualified, and trained in one of the Gulf countries for at least one year. Politians and journalists were their targets. They were planning to bring chaos in the country's law and order situation.
Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde also congratulated the state CCB police on their success in arresting the suspects.
Suspects Targeted India - New Zealand Test Cricket
According to information retrieved from the laptop of one of the suspects, it is learnt that the suspects were planning to target India versus New Zealand test match which is under way at Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore. There were plans to attack the ground on the third or fourth day of the match, so as to get international attention.
The suspects had booked 16 tickets for the match through online booking.