The investigation into the murder of Wilson, an ASI of Police in Tamil Nadu, has revealed that his murderers were “self-declared jihadists” who killed the police personnel to avenge the arrest of their ISIS associates by the Tamil Nadu police on Tuesday in Bengaluru.
Wilson was shot dead the following day at the Padanthalumoodu check-post at Kaliyakkavilai in Tamil Nadu at around 9:30 PM. The accused, Thoufeek and Abdul Shameem who are from Kanyakumari, were identified by the police through CCTV footage. According to the police, Shameem had been on the run after procuring bail last month in the murder case of a Hindu Munnani leader in 2014.
Initially, the police presumed that the killing would have been spontaneous after the terrorists feared that Sub Inspector Wilson had identified Shameem who had been on the run. However, the sources state that the police now believe that the attack was carried out as a revenge to avenge the arrest of three radicals- Mohammed Haneef Khan (29), Imran Khan (32) and Mohammed Zaid (24), who were arrested in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
The police have suspected that the killers are hiding away in Kerala. The CCTV footage accessed by the police shows Shameem and Thoufeek ran into a Jamaath office near the check post. The police sources claim that both escaped through another door, which opens to a road connecting to Kerala.
The police believe that the two involved in the killing of the policeman were expected to join the arrested men to carry out the terror attacks. Sources claim that the gang was operating from different parts of the country and was inspired by the terrorist group Islamic State. All the members of the gang were involved in murder cases.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Tamil Nadu police busted the terror module as the intelligence wing arrested three persons in Bengaluru with the help of Karnataka police and sister agencies. The police had then found out that the Tamil Nadu module had developed a link with a similar module in Bengaluru and started moving to different parts of the country.
The police think that the three arrested in Bengaluru were “aiding” Shamim and two of his other associates-S Syed Ali Nawas (25) and C Khaja Moideen(52), who were imprisoned in connection with the killing of the Hindu Munnani leader, K P Suresh Kumar, about 5 years ago. “The three of them were absconding for over a month after they came out on bail. Both Shamim and Nawas are from Kanyakumari, and Moideen is from Cuddalore,” said an officer.
Besides Thoufeek and Shamim, the police action resulted in the arrest of one Moideen, who is accused of indoctrinating the alleged shooters in cases of terrorism in Tamil Nadu. Referred by police as the “Islamic State chief of Tamil Nadu”, Moideen was arrested Thursday by the Delhi Police Special Cell along with Nawas and another associate Abdul Samad (28).
Moideen is also accused of the purported recruitment of youths for the Islamic State after being acquainted with Tamil Nadu man-Haja Fakrudeen (42), who travelled to Syria from Singapore in 2014 to join the IS. The NIA has filed a case against Moideen, Fakrudeen and others in 2017 and submitted a charge sheet on March 13, 2018, accusing Moideen of “consciously and deliberately assisting Haja Fakrudeen in joining the ISIS/ISIL/Daish in Syria during January 2014”.
