In a major breakthrough, the Tamil Nadu Police have arrested Sadiq, also known by several aliases including Raja, Tailor Raja, Valarntha Raja, Shahjahan Abdul Majid Makandar, and Shahjahan Shaik – a key accused in the 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blasts and multiple communal murder cases across the state.
According to a press release issued by the Tamil Nadu Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), the arrest was made following specific and credible intelligence inputs. A joint team of the ATS and the Coimbatore City Police apprehended the accused from Vijayapura district in Karnataka. He had been absconding for 29 years and had evaded arrest since 1996.
Sadiq, a native of Coimbatore, is implicated in several terror-related incidents. These include his alleged involvement in the 1998 Coimbatore bomb blasts that killed 58 people and injured over 250, the 1996 petrol bomb attack in Coimbatore that led to the death of Jail Warden Boopalan, the 1996 murder of Sayeetha in Nagore, and the 1997 murder of Jailor Jayaprakash in Madurai.
This arrest follows a recent series of high-profile apprehensions by the Tamil Nadu Police. In recent weeks, the ATS and Coimbatore City Police also arrested Abu Backer Siddique and Mohamed Ali alias Yunus from Annamayya District in Andhra Pradesh, both wanted in connection with terror cases. The arrest of Sadiq alias Tailor Raja marks the third successful capture of long-absconding accused linked to terror operations in a short span of time.
Further investigations are underway.
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