Man held for plotting to kill Modi

Tamil Nadu Police has unravelled a plan hatched by Islamic terrorists in the State to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mohammed Rafiq, a fifty year old history sheeter was arrested by police in Kuniamuthur in Coimbatore district late Monday on charges of plotting a plan to kill the Prime Minister.

Rafiq was one of the accused in the February 14, 1998 serial bomb blasts in Coimbatore which claimed the lives of more than 60 persons and maimed 100. The Islamic terrorists had targeted BJP leader L K Advani who was addressing a major rally on Coimbatore on that day.

Rafiq, a member of the banned Al Ummah was in jail for about ten years and has been out since 2007. The arrest was made based on a telephonic conversation between Rafiq and Prakash, a Salem based car dealer who rang up the former asking him to pay the money of the vehicle which he had bought from him.

According to sources in police, Rafiq told Prakash that he was not scared of any one and police would  not be able to “touch him” because he had faced many cases under the Goondas Act, National Security Act, Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA).

The audio clipping of the telephonic conversation between Rafiq and Prakash became viral and it reached the Kuniamuthur Police Inspector Damodaran’s office. The Inspector prepared a detailed report and sent it to City Police Commissioner A Periaiah who ordered the arrest of Rafiq. He has been charged under Section 153 (a), (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc, 506(ii) criminal intimidation, for trying to provoke the supporters of Narendra Modi and BJP workers.

Judicial Magistrate VII R Pandy ordered the remand of Rafiq and he was sent to Central Prison, Coimbatore.  It was on February 14, 2018, union minister Pon Radhakrishnan said at Coimbatore that Tamil Nadu has become a hotbed of terrorism. Tamil Nadu is no longer a peaceful State. Islamic terrorists, Maoists and Tamil extremists have joined hands against the State and Cenral governments,” Radhakrishnan had said which drew instant condemnation from the AIADK, DMK and Left leaders,

C R Nandakumar, BJP Coimbatore district chief had a providential escape on on March 20 when unidentified person threw bombs at his residence. Many activists of the Hindu Front had been murdered allegedly by Islamic extremists in the districts of Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Erode.