The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Sunday arrested a person near here in connection with the planting of a pipe bomb on the route BJP leader L.K. Advani was scheduled to pass through in October.
Hakeem alias ‘Karuva' Hakeem of Villapuram had allegedly been cited as having aided in planting the pipe bomb underneath a causeway at Alampatti village near Thirumangalam in Madurai district on October 26, a day before Mr. Advani's ‘Jan Chetna Yatra' was scheduled to proceed from Madurai to other places.
Hakeem was produced before a Judicial Magistrate at Thirumangalam.
When contacted, Additional Director General of Police (CB-CID) R. Sekar said Hakeem was the third person to be arrested in connection with the case.
Investigating officers said that based on the confessions of the two persons arrested earlier, it was found that Hakeem had aided in the planting of the explosives. A vehicle used for this purpose by Hakeem is understood to have been hidden in a neighbouring district. A team had gone to secure it.
On October 27, Mr. Advani was about to proceed on his yatra from Madurai towards Shencottah after addressing wayside meetings at Srivilliputtur and Tenkasi. A few hours prior to his departure from Madurai city, the police unearthed a five-foot-long PVC pipe, which was stuffed with explosives and connected to a 12-volt battery. A villager spotted the long wires in the early morning and immediately alerted the police. The power gel used in the PVC pipe had been sent for examination as police suspected that it could be available only in government explosive godowns.
As a precautionary measure, the BJP leader's convoy was diverted away from the scheduled route.
After the government directed the SIT to probe the incident, the officers visited the site and within a week, Abdullah and Ismath of Madurai were arrested. The two, who were lodged in the central prisons here, were shifted to Vellore and Salem prisons on Thursday for “administrative reasons.”
