Terror sleeper cells active in Bengaluru, Mysuru, says Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai
Bengaluru, Oct 18: Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Friday some terrorist sleeper cells were active in Bengaluru and Mysuru and their activities have intensified in coastal Karnataka as well as the Bay of Bengal.
Speaking to reporters at Mysuru, Bommai said the National Investigation Agency suspects movement of terrorists belonging to the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in coastal Karnataka and a few interior parts of Karnataka.
"There is a possibility of sleeper cells in Bengaluru and Mysuru and hence, the NIA wants us to take extra care," Bommai said.
He cautioned that the JMB has expanded its activities not only in coastal and interior Karnataka but all along the coastal regions of the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.
Referring to revelations made by the NIA recently in New Delhi, Bommai said the agency laid emphasis on Kashmir and the movement of Bangladeshi ultras.
The minister also said movement of illegal Bangladeshiimmigrants has intensified in the State.
"Against the background, our police are on alert especially in Bengaluru and Mysuru. We are frisking people at public places, gathering information about the suspicious persons and analysing it," Bommai said.
Earlier this week, the minister announced the formation of Bengaluru-specific Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), which will work in tandem with the NIA officials.
The Bengaluru-specific ATS will become functional from November 1, he said.
Karnataka already has an ATS.
The decision to set up the ATS was made following the arrest of a number of JMB cadres in and around Bengaluru, from whom explosive devices and many other materials were seized in the last one year.
According to the NIA, these terrorists, involved in the October 2, 2014 bomb blasts at Burdwan in West Bengal, in which two persons were killed, had holed up in and around Bengaluru.
They had carried out training programmes in Krishnagirihills in neighbouring Tamil Nadu and wanted to set up base here to carry out their jihadi activities across the country, an NIA probe, which busted the gang, revealed.
Addressing a meeting of chiefs of the Anti Terrorism Squads (ATS) recently at New Delhi, NIA chief Y C Modi had said the JMB has spread its activities in states like Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala in theguise of Bangladeshi immigrants.
The JMB was trying to spread its tentacles across India and a list of 125 suspects have been shared with different states, he said.
According to him, from 2014 to 2018, the JMB set up 20-22 hideouts in Bengaluru and tried to spread its bases in South India.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress names candidates for 8 Haryana LS seats, fields Kumari Selja, Deepender Hooda
Chandigarh (PTI): The Congress on Thursday announced candidates for eight of the nine Lok Sabha seats it is contesting in Haryana, fielding former Union minister Kumari Selja, Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda and youth leader Divyanshu Budhiraja, besides two sitting MLAs.
The party has also fielded former MP Jai Prakash and leaders Satpal Brahmachari and Mahendra Pratap, according to the list released late Thursday evening.
The Congress is contesting nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. It has not yet announced its candidate for the Gurugram constituency.
The Aam Aadmi Party, a constituent of the opposition INDIA bloc, will contest the Kurukshetra seat.
Congress general secretary and former Union minister Selja will contest from the Sirsa (reserved) seat and sitting MLAs Varun Choudhary and Rao Dan Singh from the Ambala (reserved) and the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha seats, respectively.
Deepender Hooda, son of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, will enter the fray from Rohtak. He has represented the Rohtak parliamentary constituency three times in the past.
Jai Prakash has been fielded from Hisar, the Congress' Haryana youth wing president Divanshu Budhiraja from Karnal, Satpal Brahmachari from Sonipat and Mahendra Pratap from Faridabad.
