COIMBATORE: The special task force proposed by the State government to handle cases involving radical elements will be along the lines of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) functioning in some States. Several rounds of discussion have been completed regarding the composition of the force.
After the Coimbatore serial blasts in 1998, State police formed a special division in SB-CID to gather intelligence on religious fundamentalists. Now, following the car blast, the department is taking steps to launch another wing.
According to an officer, who is involved in the discussions, the government decided to form the special force following criticism that the intelligence wing failed to gather inputs to prevent the car blast in Coimbatore on October 23.
Two days after the incident, when announcing transfer of the case to National Investigation Agency (NIA), Chief Minister MK Stalin also announced the proposal to form a special police force to gather intelligence about radical elements and investigate such cases.
Over the last few days, senior police officers have been discussing plans to give shape to the force. “The department has been told to complete the task within two weeks. A separate wing to deal with radical elements is the need of the hour in the wake of the Coimbatore blast,” the officer said.
Though Coimbatore is a communally sensitive place, the city police did not have a full-time officer in its intelligence wing until September 2022. The post was filled after a series of Molotov cocktail hurling incidents happened.
Sources said local police cannot go beyond the regular cases and intelligence sleuths have limitations as they have to watch every issue. “Though we have a separate intelligence wing Special Branch CID, it gathers only intelligence inputs and the Q branch is vested with powers to cover extremist elements like Maoists and Naxalites.
Specialised intelligence teams did not work for investigation and the investigation team would not bother about intelligence networks. If we have a special force to handle both intelligence gathering and the investigation, it will help to handle the radical elements,” the officer said.
Kovai blast: Cops search residences of four men
Tirunelveli: Searches were carried out at the houses of four persons on Tuesday by Melapalayam police in connection with the car blast probe. Sources said the searches at the residences of Sahib Mohammed Ali, Seyad Mohammed Bhuhari, Mohammed Ali and Mohammed Ibrahim lasted for about four hours. One of them was earlier questioned by the NIA following the 2019 Easter bombings in Sri Lanka. “Allegedly, the four persons raised funds for an organisation, which was reportedly involved in terror activities, during their stay in an Arab country earlier,” sources added