REFUGEE

CHENNAI: A Special Investigation Team of the Tamil Nadu police will question T Nazir, the suspected LeT activist and a key suspect in the 26/11
terror attack, on his alleged involvement in planting explosives at the Coimbatore press club in December 2002.

Highly-placed sources in SIT told The Times Of India that the Bangalore police had allotted time on Friday to interrogate Nazir. After the preliminary investigation, the SIT would approach the court and seek his remand in the Coimbatore case before applying for his police custody. "We have to interrogate him to see whether he still has lively contacts in Coimbatore and whether they have any terror plans in Tamil Nadu," a senior SIT official said.

According to the police, Nazir and four associates planted one kg gelatine at the press club building, allegedly to take revenge against the police "atrocities" against Soofia Madhani, wife of PDP leader Abdul Nassar Madhani.

The Coimbatore police managed to dig out the bomb in time and registered a case under the Tamil Nadu Explosive Substances Act against Nazir, M A Shabeer, Noushad, Shabeer and Sabir, all from Kerala. The case was then transferred to SIT. A SIT team arrested M A Shabeer and Noushad in the case. Nazir, Shabeer and Sabir had been absconding. The Bangalore police then arrested Nazir, said to have grown into a major LeT operative who allegedly played key roles in several terror attacks across the country.

A five-member team of SIT Coimbatore went to Bangalore after the police there arrested Nazir. "The team had been there for the last four days. However, the Bangalore police had 11 cases against Nazir and were busy interrogating him in relation with these cases. The Bangalore police told us to come back on Friday as they had allotted time for us on that date," the official added.

Nazir is said to have grown in stature which is bothering the Tamil Nadu police. "He is not just another Islamic hardliner. His networks and training background with the LeT that have been getting exposed now are scary. So we are keen to get him in our custody to know about his contacts, associates and plans in Tamil Nadu," another official added.