Explosives suppliers were unaware of Malleswaram blast plans: Karnataka police

BENGALURU: Selling explosives without knowing the intention of the buyers proved costly for three accused in the Malleswaram bomb blast case. It is learnt that the three accused, including Daniel Prakash who was arrested on Monday, were not aware that they were selling the explosives to terrorists who wanted to carry out a terror attack in Bengaluru.

Sources in the investigating team probing the Malleswaram blast case said that Prakash was arrested based on the information provided by Jahan Aseer and Syed Ali, who were arrested in March.

“There are a few people in the case who were not aware that they were selling explosives to terrorists and were indirectly working for them. Prakash, Aseer and Ali, who are arrested on charges of supplying bombs, sold explosives for a few thousands of rupees, without any idea how it would land them in trouble,” an official said.

All the three hail from Tirunelveli of Tamil Nadu. “Prakash was working in a company which has procured licence to supply explosives to carry out blasts in quarries. He used to steal small amounts of explosives and sold them to some quarries at a cheaper price. The other accused, Aseer, was his neighbour and worked as a daily wage worker at quarries,” the official said.

“Accused number two in the case, Baasir alias Basheer alias Bashir, who also hails from Malapayam in Tirunelveli, told a man that he wanted explosives. That man, without knowing Bashir’s plans, approached Aseer and Ali, as he knew that it would be easy to get explosives from them as they worked in quarries. That man claimed that he wanted to supply explosives to another quarry. Not thinking much, Aseer contacted Prakash. As he already had 4-5 kg of stolen explosives, he sold it for a few thousands of rupees to Aseer, who in turn gave it to Bashir’s man,” the official added.

“Once Bashir got the explosives, he passed it on to the prime accused in the case, Panna Ismail alias Mohammed Ismail and Fakruddin alias Police Fakruddin. They along with the other accused, bought detonators and prepared the bombs,” the official said.

It is said that Prakash is the only real accused to be arrested in the case. “There is no other accused in the case to be arrested. Though they were not aware of the plans of carrying out bomb blast, they will be charged under the stringent sections under which the other terror accused are booked,” the official said.