In a shocking news report by Organiser, three terrorists of the banned group Al-Ummah, who were imprisoned in Puzhal prison, plotted to commit terrorist activities while still inside the high-security facility through one of the recently released convicts.
Panna Ismail of Melapalayam, Tirunelveli district, Police Fakrudin and Bilal Malik, both from Nelpettai, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, were complicit in the 1998 Coimbatore serial bombings that targeted Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Krishna Advani. They were both members of the now-outlawed Al-Ummah terror group.
On 19 March 2013, a three-person gang killed Murugan K, a 45-year-old former BJP municipal councillor, while he was walking back home from lunch. The victim was also hit by pipe bombs thrown by them and two bombs were found at the scene and neutralised there. Doctor Arvinth Reddy, the former state medical wing secretary of the BJP, was assassinated on 23 October of the same year in front of his clinic in the Kosapet neighbourhood of Vellore, Tamil Nadu.
Hindu Munnani leader S Vellaiyappan (45) was killed on 1 July by an eight-person mob while en route to Vellore’s Ramakrishna Ashram. Ramesh (52) a certified accountant and general secretary of the BJP in Tamil Nadu, was assassinated in front of his Salem office just three weeks later on 19 July.
Bilal Malik and Panna Ismail who were hiding in a Puttur home on 5 October 2013, were captured after a joint operation that lasted 10 hours and involved gunfire from both sides. Fakrudin, their accomplice, also known as Police Fakrudin, was apprehended the day before in Chennai.
A jail officer was attacked in 2019 within the confines of the Puzhal Central prison’s maximum security area in suburban Chennai. Senthil Kumar, the jail superintendent, was assaulted by two members of Al Ummah, however, the incident didn’t receive sufficient coverage in the Tamil Nadu mainstream media.
They have a comfortable, opulent existence in prison, eating their preferred home- or hotel-made meals, including the biriyani of their choosing. Their opulent lifestyle and frequent participation in riot-like prison situations when they were faced by guards for infractions like keeping weapons, narcotics or cell phones.
They used to threaten the police and prison staff as well as abuse them while being taken out for remand. These situations were manufactured to attract the media’s attention and to alert the public to the alleged harassment they had experienced as a result of political vendetta.
The three are now incarcerated at the Puzhal prison outside of Chennai. The same prison housed Saravanan, who is charged with multiple offences. He had formed tight ties with Fakrudin, Panna and Bilal Ismail, asserted police sources and a Tamil newspaper. It is believed that Saravanan was gradually brainwashed into adopting their ideas and picked up weapons, notably bombs.
Police sources revealed, “While in prison, they taught him terror-related activities and what he should do after his release from the prison. It was a big list. Also, the trio briefed him about the contacts that could help him financially, and technically to aid and support the proposed terror activities.”
When the Greater Chennai Police Commissioner learned about the plan, the police began discreetly putting Saravanan under strict observation once he was released on bail. He was taken into custody by Chromepet Police in relation to money laundering and other offences. When questioned by the authorities, he divulged information that was astonishing and unexpected.
They further disclosed, “They told Saravanan that as per the instruction of Fakurrdin who has been in prison, Hindu leaders were killed in a gruesome way. They revealed it to him when he was speaking to them. Saravanan also told us that by remaining in Puzhal prison, they have been in contact with several persons outside the prison and getting them to carry out terror activities.”
They added, “This includes the liquidation of important BJP, RSS, Hindu Munnani and other Sangh Parivar leaders in the state. They have hatched a plan to kill visiting foreign leaders and VVIPs in India. To carry out these terror activities, the trio needs resources and for that purpose, they have been into money laundering, hawala operations. They could, according to Saravanan, be able to raise the funds needed. Even after coming out on bail, Saravanan has been maintaining his contacts with them and carried out some important assignments given to him.”
It is quite disturbing that terrorists have this much leverage and that they use the prison as a base of operations to plan plots. The inner jail conspiracy is shocking at a time when intelligence agencies have been warning of a regrouping of terrorist and anti-national elements since the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) took office.
Muslim organisations have been putting pressure on the DMK administration to free all Muslim men who have been imprisoned for more than 25 years early for medical reasons. According to information obtained, the state government is thoughtfully considering their request, which is very likely to be made public before the Lok Sabha elections.
Abdul Nasser Madani, the head of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and a perpetrator in the Bengaluru bomb case, was given permission by the Indian Supreme Court on 17 July to travel back to Kerala for medical treatment.
The judiciary’s practise of either releasing or acquitting convicts for lack of evidence or granting them more bail while ignoring the risks incurred in their capture by the police, National Investigation Agency, Central Bureau of Investigation and other agencies have also come under fire from the general public.
They highlight a number of recent rulings, including one to grant Teesta Setalvad bail in a case involving evidence fabrication in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots and Manipur violence, as proof that minority appeasement has reached the highest court along with the rest of the judiciary.
