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Karnataka Today newsletter: CCB busts terror module in Bengaluru, recovers firearms, and more

In a joint operation, the Central Crime Branch (CCB) officials busted a suspected terror module and arrested five suspects who were allegedly planning to carry out subversive activities in and around the city. The accused were nabbed at Sultanpalya in RT Nagar where they had gathered for a meeting.

The accused — Syed Suhel Khan, 24, Mohammed Umar, 29, Zahid Tabarej, 25, Syed Mudaseer Pasha, 28, and Mohammed Fazil, 30 — were working as mechanics and drivers. They were arrested by R.T. Nagar police in 2017 in connection with the kidnap and murder of a businessman, Noor Ahmed, along with the prime accused Junaid Ahmed.

The group was radicalised by LeT operative T. Nazir, who was arrested in connection with the 2008 serial bomb blast in Bengaluru. The accused came in contact with him while serving their sentence in the Central prison at Parappana Agrahara in the city, according to sources in the police.

The accused had planned to carry out blasts in four places in Bengaluru. Based on intel inputs, the CCB arrested them and also recovered seven country-made pistols, 42 rounds of ammunition and two phones, and several SIM cards from them.

The State Budget session proceedings in the Legislative Assembly were disrupted on Wednesday amid ruckus and protests by the entire Opposition over deputing of 30 serving IAS officers to receive political leaders who attended the meeting of Opposition parties in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18.

The House witnessed unruly scenes after BJP members staged a dharna in the well of the House and indulged in sloganeering seeking an apology from the Congress government. They tore the papers and Bills and tossed them at Deputy Speaker Rudrappa Lamani, who was in the Chair.

Denying the allegation, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said such a move was not unprecedented and IAS officers had been deployed similarly during H.D. Kumaraswamy’s regime as well. Attacking the Opposition for making an issue out of trivial things, he said, “People who are not able to even elect Leader of Opposition are indulging in such drama.”