B’luru serial blasts: Key accused held from Kerala after 12 years of chase

In a major breakthrough in 2008 Bengaluru serial blasts case,
the Anti Terrorist Cell (ATC) has arrested the key accused in connection with the case after chasing him for 12 years, police said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters, Joint Commissioner of the Bengaluru City Police (Crime), Sandeep Patil asserted that the ATC wing officers had been camping in Thiruvananthapuram for the last one week and coordinating with national agencies for the key arrest.

"In July 2008, there were serial blasts in Bengaluru where seven low intensity bombs were exploded. The city police had identified 32 accused of which 22 have been arrested so far and investigations are on. Shohaib had a major role to play in this entire episode and has been absconding since 2008, 12 years since bombs exploded in the city," he recalled.

He added that after relentless investigations in this case, the ATC got a breakthrough last year and with the help of national agencies the accused was arrested on Monday night.

"The moment we have received an information about him, we issued a red corner notice last October and on a tip-off about his return to Thiruvananthapuram , we nabbed him," the Joint Commissioner added.

According to him, Shohaib is a resident of Kerala and will be brought to the city for further investigations.

"We are expecting them to reach this evening, we will start interrogating thereafter," he said and added that there are many missing links in this case, which could be established once the interrogation is completed.

It can be recalled that in these serial blasts, one person was killed and 20 injured in the attacks. The confirmed dead was a woman waiting at a bus shelter in Madiwala on the Hosur road, while her husband and another person were seriously injured. The injured were admitted to the St. Johns Hospital.

Then it had been reported that gelatine sticks were used in the bombs. The police indicated that all bombs had timer devices attached to them and that mobile phones were used to trigger the bombs.