Mohammed Rafiq, the man arrested in Coimbatore last month for masterminding a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has suffered from a heart attack and has been shifted to intensive care unit of Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.
He was arrested on April 23 near a house in Apple Garden, Saramedu, after his audio conversation about the assassination conspiracy with a Salem businessman went viral on a social media platform. His remand was ordered by Judicial Magistrate VII R Pandy and he was sent to Central Prison, Coimbatore. He was kept in judicial custody for 15 days till May 7. The police had told that the eight-minute long conversation was between someone who has completed a jail term in the February 1998 Coimbatore serial blast case, a resident of Kuniyamuthur in the city, and a transport contractor.
Rafiq, a member of the banned Al Ummah, was released in 2007 after serving his jail term in the Coimbatore blast case. He was named in another case of the blast at the RSS headquarters in which he was acquitted in 1993. Sub Inspector Damodaran had prepared the reports and sent to the Coimbatore city police commissioner K Periaiah who ordered the arrest.
After the investigation, the police commissioner had further informed that the threat was just to extract money from the businessman in their finance deals. The name of the businessman wasn’t disclosed. Mohammed Rafiq was booked under sections 153 (A) (promoting enmity on grounds of religion) and section 506 (ii) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.