Karnataka Church blasts: Deendar Anjuman operative arrested after 16 years

Bengaluru, Aug 9: A key accused in the 2000 Karnataka serial Church blasts case was arrested by the Bengaluru Police on Tuesday.

The accused, Sheikh Amir alias Amir Ali a member of the terror outfit, Deendar Anjuman was arrested from Hyderabad by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Ali an alleged member of the Deendar Anjuman, is a resident of Nalgonda in Andhra Pradesh. The police have been on his trail for the past 16 years. He is said to be one of the co-conspirators of the attacks.

Between June and July 2000, three blasts at Churches took place at Bengaluru, Hubbali and Kalaburgi, Karnataka. On June 8 2000, two bombs exploded at the St Annes Church, Wadi in Kalaburgi.

On July 8 2000, a blast took place at the St Johns Lutheran Church in Hubbali. On July 9 2000, an explosion at the St Peter Paul Church, J J Nagar Bengaluru was reported.

During the course of trial 12 people had been convicted.The probe was handed over to the erstwhile Corps of Detectives now known as the CID.

During the probe, evidence suggested that the members of the Deendar Anjuman wanted to create a rift between the Christians and Hindus in the state.

In the aftermath of the blasts, the outfit had printed pamphlets blaming the Hindus for the blast.

Investigations revealed that an attempt was being made to create a rift. It was also found that the same outfit had carried out blasts in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra as well.

OneIndia News