Bengaluru: Church Street terror case of December 28, 2014 was allegedly the first lone wolf terror attack in the City by Mohammed Rafeeq alias Alam Jeb Afridi alias Jaweed, who is allegedly a member of the banned terror organization – Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
The National Investigation Agency on Friday arrested Rafeeq as the prime accused in the Church Street blast case (RC-01/2015/NIA/Hyd) a week after he was ‘arrested’ by the Telangana Anti Terror Squad (ATS) from the city in an “old” terror case in Ahmedabad. He has been remanded to NIA custody for 10 days. The Church Street blast had claimed the life of a woman and injured several others. The case was handed over to the NIA in May last year.
Is it Rafeeq in video grab?
The NIA had recently released a CCTV video footage of a young man moving suspiciously on that fateful evening around Church Street and M.G. Road with two bags one of which he had dropped curiously near the crime scene. “There is striking similarity between Rafeeq and the man in the video grab, but the NIA will have to get the identity confirmed forensically,” said an official source.
Rafeeq is Afridi
Rafeeq, whose real name is Afridi is a resident of Ahmedabad and is said to be a member of SIMI. He is reportedly wanted in 13 terror cases in Gujarat including the serial blasts in Ahmedabad in 2008. He is also wanted by the NIA in a terror case, of setting up a SIMI training camp at Waghamon in Kerala in 2007. “He was on the run since then. The NIA had announced a reward of '3 lakh for any information leading to his arrest.
Questions asked
Though seen as a major breakthrough in the Church Street terror case, Rafeeq’s arrest has raised certain pertinent questions. When asked why he was arrested by the Telangana ATS, when they had no case against him, an officer on condition of anonymity told this newspaper that the Telangana ATS was “shadowing” Rafeeq for quite some time to keep an eye on his activities. “They alerted the local police, when they were informed that he may escape from Bengaluru. Rafeeq had attacked an ATS constable during the operation. He was handed over to the NIA, which identified him in the Church Street case. His interrogation revealed that he was the person behind the attack,” said the officer.
What is even more surprising is that Rafeeq was living in Bengaluru for the last three years and working as a mechanic for air conditioners in Electronic City. Why couldn’t the city police or the Internal Security Division arrest him? Why did it take external agencies to arrest terror suspects in Bengaluru this month is a question that the police need to answer.
