COIMBATORE: Former al-Umma member, ‘engineer’ Hyder Ali, is expected to be taken into custody by the CBCID-Special Investigation Division (SID), in the next week in order to be questioned over his role in the recent blasts at the Chennai Central Railway Station.
Hyder alias Engineer Hyder Ali, is wanted in a number of cases including the plot to assassinate leaders from the Hindu right-wing. He was on the run for over two decades before his arrest from Palakkad on Tuesday. He was an active member of fundamentalist Muslim organizations in the period between 1989-1993, sources said.
The Big Bazaar Street police registered a case against Ali two decades ago after a series of raids were conducted on active sleeper cells in the city and over 20 persons were booked under various grave offences, including possession of explosive substances.
They were also charged with criminal conspiracy to commit murder under the now defunct Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention (TADA) Act.
Hyder, after being granted bail in 1989, had been out of reach of law enforcement officials. He is believed to have been holed up in Saudi Arabia before resurfacing in Palakkad district, Kerala, where he was arrested by the CBCID-SID police on Tuesday.
Hyder Ali is believed to have become inactive in right-wing activities for the last decade.
He is wanted in connection with a plot to kill prominent Hindu leaders in Coimbatore in retaliation for the arrest of S A Baatcha, an Al- Umma leader who was accused of bombing RSS offices in Chennai resulting in the deaths of 11 people. The Big Bazaar Street police here had registered a case against Ali, Baatcha and Mohammed Ansari as well as 20 others after police raids on sleeper cells in the city in November 1993. The police had charged Ali and others with charges of criminal conspiracy to commit murder.