The Coimbatore Police arrested a 1998 serial blast convict, Mohammed Rafiq; after a recorded telephonic conversation went viral on social media in which he is heard saying he is planning to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.
The arrest follows a leaked telephonic conversation between Rafiq and another person identified as Prakash, a truck dealer from Salem district. In the eight-minute audio clip, which is doing rounds on social media, Rafiq is heard describing his alleged plan to kill Modi to Prakash.
Prakash is heard as saying, “I know you (Rafiq) are facing a total of 22 cases and have damaged 67 vehicles.” Correcting that the figure is 160 vehicles and not 67, Rafiq continued, “Still the police do not dare to question me as they know who I am. I have seen all cases from Goondas Act, TADA Act and National Securities Act in 2014.”
The city police formed special teams to investigate the recorded conversation and verify the genuineness of the persons in it, the police said in a press release.
Rafiq reportedly told Prakash, “We have decided to kill Modi. We even planted bombs during Advani’s visit to Coimbatore.” This statement led to his arrest.
The suspect has been remanded to 15 days judicial custody.
Coimbatore suffered a series of bomb blasts in February 1998 in which 58 people were killed and property worth crores was destroyed.
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