Elusive bomber of RSS Hq in Chennai arrested by CBI after 24 years

CHENNAI:

Twenty-four years after eluding the law, Mushtaq Ahmed, one of the main accused in the 1993 blast at RSS Head Quarters in Chennai which killed 11 people, was arrested by Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday.

Ahmed, who was arrested from the outskirts of the city, had a bounty of Rs 10 lakh for providing credible information about him. He was arrested by CBI, which has taken over the investigation from the state police, from Reningunta in Andhra Pradesh.

The blast happened on August, 8, 1993 at about 1.45pm at MV Naidu Street, Chetpet, Madras resulting in the death of 11 persons and injuries to 7 others with extensive damage to the building.

After completion of investigation, CBI had filed charge sheets against 18 accused. The agency's hunt for Ahmed has gathered steam after a TADA court in Chennai had convicted 11 persons and awarded life term to three of them in the case in 2007 after a 12-year trial. Four persons, including SA Basha, founder of the banned Al Umma were acquitted for lack of evidence against them.

Immam Ali, a suspected ISI agent who had escaped from custody in Madurai, was gunned down in Bangalore in an encounter with the police on September 29, 2002, while another accused-- Jihad Committee Founder Palani Baba-- was hacked to death by suspected RSS sympathisers on January 28, 1997.

Of the 431 witnesses, 224 were examined during the course of the trial which commenced on August 7, 1995. The charge sheet was filed on June 8, 1994.