Blast near BJP office: Explosives supplier Danial Prakash arrested

Bengaluru, Jun 14: A 35-year-old man was arrested in connection with the blast that had occurred in front of the state BJP office at Malleswaram on April 17, 2013. Police said the accused had supplied explosive for the blast, after a plan was hatched to fix the explosive to a bike.

Central Crime Branch police, who are probing the case, nabbed Danial Prakash alias Prakashm in Tirunelveli village of Tamil Nadu. The police have so far arrested 17 accused in connection with the blast and Prakash is 18th accused.

Police officials said the arrest was made based on information given by Pervez Basha, who was arrested in Tamil Nadu earlier.

In a press release, officials state that Prakash is one of the prime accused and he was active in supplying explosive material that was brought to Bengaluru.

Cops among injured

A bomb explosion of low intensity near the headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party at Malleswaram on April 17, 2013 had injured 17 people, including 12 police personnel. The police personnel were in a Karnataka State Reserve Police van stationed on 24-hour election duty.

Two cars and two two-wheelers were gutted, while the police van was damaged in the explosion that shook the densely populated semi-residential area. The 10.20 a.m. blast coincided with the last day of the filing of nominations for the May 5 Assembly polls. The busy street on Malleswaram, which was in the thick of electoral activity, was covered with shattered glass, mostly from broken vehicle window panes.

RSS leader's SIM

Nearly a month after the blast, police had revealed that the SIM card used to trigger the blast belonged to an RSS leader from the Karnataka-Kerala border. The police, had refused to identify the RSS leader.

However, the police has exonerated the SIM-card owner, and ruled out the involvement of a purported right-wing terror group.

Chargsheeted

However, after a few months of investigation, a chargesheet was filed in October 2013 against 15 accused: Basheer (30), Kichan Buhari (38), Sait Azgar Ali (29), Rehamathulla (34), Valayil Hakeem (32), Syed Suleman (24), Suleman (31), Zulfikar Ali (24), Mohammed Salim (30), Panna Ismail (38), Bilal Malik (25), Fakruddin (38), Pravai Basha, Ali Khan Kutti, Jhone Asir, (35) and Syed Ali (29) are currently judicial custody in the Parappana Agrahara prison.