COIMBATORE: A huge posse of police was deployed in the city on Thursday for the funeral of Al-Umma member I Abu Thahir (43) who was convicted for the murder of jailor Jayaprakash in 1997 and Coimbatore bomb blast case.
Abu Thahir, who was suffering from an autoimmune disease, died in a private hospital on Wednesday evening. His body was taken in a procession from his residence in Bilal Estate near Ukkadam to the Tipu Sultan burial ground on Thursday afternoon. More than 1,000 police personnel were deployed en route to prevent any untoward incidents. Commissioner of Police V Balakrishnan and Inspector General of Police (West Zone) R Sudhakar reviewed the security measures.
Abu Thahir (43) was a member of the banned Al-Umma outfit and was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for his involvement in the 1998 serial bomb blast in Coimbatore city. Also, he was sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court in Madurai in 2003 for murdering an assistant jailor Jayaprakash in Madurai on August 29, 1997.
Tahir was admitted in CMCH on November 24, 2011, as his health worsened and his family approached the Madras High Court, seeking treatment in a private hospital. A high-level committee headed by the district collector and doctors examined his health and submitted a report to the state government in June 2012. Since the CMCH doctors recommended a kidney transplant, he was admitted to a private hospital in the city in 2012. In 2018, he was given long leave and visited CMCH regularly for dialysis.