On The Run For 26 Years, 2 Accused In South India Blasts Arrested; Had Falsified Identities

News18

04-07-2025

Last Updated:
Two blast accused who had been absconding for over 2 decades were arrested in Andhra Pradesh They had been living with false identities for 26 years in a small town.
Two individuals, who were wanted in multiple high-profile bomb blast cases in South India and had been absconding for over 25 years, were arrested in a joint operation by Tamil Nadu Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and Annamayya Police in Andhra Pradesh's Rayachoti town, the officials said.
The arrested persons were identified as Abu Bakar Siddique alias Amanullah and Mohammed Ali alias Mansoor, who were living under false identities for over two decades, the police said.
Both of them were affiliated with the banned terrorist outfit Al Ummah and had been absconding since 1999 in connection with several bomb blast cases in Tamil Nadu, including incidents in Chennai, Trichy, and Coimbatore, they said.
They had settled in Rayachoti and had married locally. Both operated small businesses under assumed identities, the police said.
They were arrested after the Annamayya District Police carried out searches at Kothapalli and Mahbub Basha Street in Rayachoti on the basis of credible intelligence of their presence.
'A large quantity of explosive material capable of being used in improvised explosive devices (IEDs) was recovered from the houses," the police said.
Several incriminating materials were seized from the spot. Electronic items were also confiscated, including walkie-talkies, radio equipment, hacking software, mobile phones, digital storage devices, and coding books. The officials also recovered maps of Indian cities, religious literature, binoculars, edged weapons, and financial records from the site.
The police said that during raids, they also recovered materials capable of manufacturing around 50 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), along with other explosive substances.
'ISIS and Al Ummah share similar extremist ideologies, and Al Ummah is considered one of the largest terrorist outfits in South India," the official said.
The police said that there is, however, no confirmation yet on whether the two individuals were carrying out recruitment or training activities in Rayachoti, where they were based in recent years.
The police are investigating how explosive materials were brought to the area. National intelligence agencies are also actively involved in the case, the officials said.
Amanullah and Mansoor were the main accused in a series of seven bomb blasts that occurred in 1999 across Chennai, Trichy, Coimbatore, and parts of Kerala. While living in Rayachoti, they were involved in the 2013 bomb blasts at the BJP office in Malleswaram, Bengaluru, officials said.
First Published:
July 04, 2025, 08:55 IST