As the probe into the low-intensity IED blast on the premises of the judicial magistrate’s court in Malappuram began, the pen drive recovered from the blast site contained images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other politicians. After this, a question arises, is PM Modi the next target?
The pen drive also had videos of Babri Masjid demolition, Gujarat riots, photographs of Mumbai blast convict Yakub Memon and Dadri mob lynching victim Akhlaq.
Investigating agencies believe that the Tamil Nadu-based terror outfit “Al-Ummah”, which came into existence just after Babri Masjid demolition, may be behind these blasts.
It also contains the message that the “Base Movement” (Al-Ummah also known as) is determined to carry out more such attacks on courts in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Notably, Al Ummah had earlier tried to kill BJP Leader LK Advani in 1998 in Coimbatore.
Possibility of such threat looms large even as a letter warning of another blast and avenging of Dadri victim Mohammed Akhlaq’s murder was seized from the site where the car blast took place in Malappuram Collectorate premises in Kerala.
Thrissur range Inspector-General M R Ajith Kumar said the police have found similarity between Tuesday’s Malappuram blast and the blasts earlier in Kollam, Mysuru and Chittoor. “We suspect the same group was behind all these blasts, and the one in Malappuram,” I-G Kumar said.
“The pen drive recovered from the blast site has given details about previous operations.” There are indications that the group would strike again, he added.
All these are low to medium-intensity blasts carried out this year on court premises and some of the incidents have resulted in minor injuries but there have been no major casualties. Going by the nature of all these blasts, it can be assumed that they were meant to warn the public, Kumar said. The explosions have taken place in public places that do not come under close security surveillance, the I-G added.
In the past nine months, three southern states have witnessed similar kinds of IED blasts (luckily without any casualty).
The chain of events started from Chittoor of Andhra pradesh, where in April the first blast took place in the premises of a local court compound.
The second blast took place in Kollam in Kerala in June, then a similar incident took place in Mysuru of Karnataka in August and in Nellore. In September, a similar kind of IED blast took place in the parking lot of Nellore district court of Andhra Pradesh.
