2008 serial blast suspect arrested from Bengaluru

Ten years after serial bomb blasts rocked Bengaluru, the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police arrested another accused Mohammed Saleem (42) from Kannur in Kerala on Wednesday night. He was a suspected Lashkar e-Taiba terrorist and played a major role in the blasts.

On Thursday, Saleem was produced before the Ist Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court, where Judge V Jagadeesh granted the CCB 14 days’ police custody for interrogation.

The accused, along with others, had planned to plant bombs in 2008 in various places on the directions of Nasir Riyazuddin from Kerala. They held a meeting in Kannur and it was learnt that Saleem is a close associate of Nasir.

The investigation revealed that before the blast, Saleem had come to the city in July 24 and supplied all the explosives to the other accused and returned to Kannur. The following day, they planted the explosives at nine different locations. The devices exploded, killing one woman and injuring 20 others. A senior police officer said that soon after Nasir’s arrest, Saleem fled to West Asia and returned to Kerala in 2016 taking shelter in the forests. “We left our informant in that region and based on his tip-off, he was arrested on Wednesday,” police said.