Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Mar 23: Police personnel of city crime branch here, who had gone to Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu to attest terror suspects, were taken into custody by the local police who thought them to be abductors. After senior police officers of both the states intervened, the drama ended on a happy note.

At the end, the policemen succeeded in arresting two more suspected terrorists on Tuesday from Tamil Nadu and bringing them to the city for interrogation. They are connected with the bomb explosion at the state BJP office at Malleshwaram in 2012, it s gathered.

A police team led by city crime branch (CCB) assistant commissioner of police, Venkatesh Prasanna, had raided the houses of John Asir and his associate, Syed Ali, at Tirunelveli. As the police personnel were in plain clothes, the locals thought them to be kidnappers and made a hue and cry over the incident. Tirunelveli police, who rushed to the spot, took the police personnel and the terror suspects into custody and brought them to police station. When the CCB officials said that they were policemen, the local policem objected to the operation that was conducted without keeping them informed, it is gathered.

Frustrated over the behaviour of the policemen there, Venkatesh Prasanna contacted additional city polce commissioner, Sharatchandra, and explained to him about the problem. The issue was then referred to police commissioner, N S Megharikh, who then established contact with higher level police officials at Tamil Nadu and sorted out the issue, it is gathered.

With the above two arrests, the number of arrests in the case has gone up to 17. During the questioning of a main accused in the case, K Sahul alias Paravai Basha, who is in the custody of Vellore police, he had revealed that materials for explosives were bought from Tirunelveli. Additional police commissioner (crime), K V Sharatchandra, said that the involvement of these two in the blasts has been confirmed.

It is said that Asir and Ali, who worked in stone quarries, had links with several terrorist organizations, and were supplying explosives used for detonating boulders, to these organizations. Some of these materials were used for Malleshwaram blasts on April 17, 2012, which had injured 18 persons. police officials said