Deputy Chief Minister R Ashoka said on Thursday that Interpol assistance had been sought by the State police to get more information on those who had been allegedly associated with the terror ring.
When contacted by Deccan Herald, Ashoka, who is also the Home Minister said, “One of the 11 suspects is a hardcore terrorist. We have suspicion that at least three international terrorists are associated with this ring. Hence, we have sought the assistance of the Interpol. Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has been kept informed about the developments. In three days, we will give all information to the media.”
The minister said transmission of a majority of the communication among the suspected LeT operatives was through SMSes. The police have the records of all these communications.
“The ring members had received cash from some source. We have seized the cash. They had code names for their targets. For example, one Jayasimha was code named as marriage. They wanted to target a Bajrang Dal activist in Hubli and an advocate in Andhra Pradesh, who used to handle cases of pro-Hindu organisations,” the minister said.
He has directed the coastal police to be on high alert. However, he did not give the reason for issuing the direction.
Ashoka said that the suspected terror ring had planned to unleash terror and create instability in the State by targeting elected representatives, Hindu groups and journalists.
Ashoka told reporters that the State government was in constant touch with the Centre and would foil any attempts by suspect terror groups to unleash instability in the country.
He said that besides Shinde, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had called him and appreciated the effort of the Bangalore City crime branch in arresting the 11 suspects and foiling their alleged plots. The suspected terror ring had its modules beyond the State’s boundaries in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
The Home minister said the suspects were plotting to target a journalist of a Kannada daily and the editor of a Kannada news channel, besides an MP and a legislator from Hubli. The journalists, according to Ashoka, had come under the ‘scanner’ because they had written articles on Modi.
A laptop recovered from one of the suspects had pictures of the two journalists with Narendra Modi during their visit to Gujarat, Ashoka said.
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