29 years later, Coimbatore blasts accused arrested

CHENNAI: For 29 years, A Raja alias ‘Tailor’ Raja managed to live under the radar despite being wanted by both the CB-CID and the Tamil Nadu anti-terrorism squad for his alleged role in the 1998 bomb blast that claimed 58 lives and left over 250 people injured and the 1996 petrol bomb attack in Coimbatore, and several other cases. Raja, now 47, finally ran out of luck on Wednesday when a special team of ATS and the Coimbatore city police caught up with him in Karnataka.

Raja, a member of the banned outfit Al-Umma, has also been an accused in the 1996 Sayeeda murder in Nagore and in the 1997 murder of jailor Jayaprakash in Madurai. Raja had gone absconding since the Coimbatore petrol bomb that killed jail warden Boopalan and allegedly plotted the 1998 serial blasts in hiding.

The CB-CID had declared him a wanted criminal and announced cash rewards for information on his whereabouts.

The ATS sleuths managed to track Raja down to Vijayapura district in Karnataka following leads received from Abubacker Siddique and Mohammed Ali alias Yunus who were recently arrested from Andhra’s Annamavya district.

Raja was nabbed from his house in Vijayapura and brought to Coimbatore.

Investigating officers said Raja was careful not to stay in one place for too long and frequently shifted locations across the states of Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, which helped him to evade arrest all these years.

Hailing from Bilal Estate at South Ukkadam in Coimbatore, Raja had several other aliases like ‘Valarntha’ Raja, Shajahan Abdul Majid Makandar and Shahjahan Shaik.

Raja was produced before the Judicial Magistrate Court V on Thursday and remanded in judicial custody till July 24.

He was earlier brought to the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital for an examination.

The 1998 serial bombing were targeted at BJP leader LK Advani during an election campaign in Coimbatore.