Five persons have been arrested and a huge consignment of explosives and detonators seized from a house in Tirunelveli district on Saturday night.
A press release by the Director-General of Police said that a special investigation division of the CB-CID, set to probe the murder of Hindu Munnani leader Vellaiyappan in Vellore and BJP State general secretary ‘Auditor’ Ramesh in Salem, seized 17 kg of explosives and 141 electric detonators from a house in Melapalayam, Tirunelveli City, and arrested five persons - Tasim, Katta Shahul, Kutty alias Noorul Hameed, Samsu and Bismi.
The package containing the material had been hidden in a house without disclosing the nature of the contents to the owner.
The seizure and arrest followed a tip-off, prompting the Special Investigation Division to launch an operation in co-ordination with the State intelligence team. The Special Investigation Division will probe whether the material recovered in this case is connected with the pipe bombs found at the scene of the murder in Vellore, the release said.
It advised people not to give shelter or accommodation to five wanted criminals - Abu Backer Siddique, ‘Police’ Fakrudheen, Bilal Malik and Panna Ismail - whose photographs had already been published in newspapers. They could be in possession of explosives, the press release warned and requested the public to share information with the police about any suspicious persons or objects.
Meanwhile, a top SID official in Salem said that the five persons arrested at Melapayam in Tirunelveli district on Saturday night might be suspects in the murder case of BJP State General Secretary Auditor Ramesh.
They are being interrogated at Perumalpuram police station in Palayamkottai. Their possible involvement in the murder of Ramesh is being looked into, but till now we have not got any clue confirming their involvement, officials said.
“However, no decision has been taken so far to bring them to Salem for interrogation. But the possible involvement is not discounted” an official said.
Amid these developments, a number of suspects were being interrogated at the CB CID office here in connection with the murder of Ramesh.
Meanwhile, BJP district Secretary R Gopinath, BJP leader L K Advani will visit Salem on August 1. After visiting family members of Auditor Ramesh, Advani will address a public meeting at Jawahar Mills Ground at 3 pm the same day.