2006 Calicut twin blasts case: NIA arrests accused PP Yoosaf

New Delhi: The National Investigative Agency (NIA) on Friday arrested PP Yoosaf, an accused in the 2006 Calicut twin blasts case.

The 36-year-old accused would be produced before NIA Special Court here for obtaining transit remand to Kochi.

The NIA sleuths nabbed Yoosaf from New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport upon his arrival from Saudi Arabia.

Twin IED blasts had occurred at KSRTC and Mofussil Bus Stands in Calicut (Kozhikode) City on March 3, 2006, injuring two persons besides causing damage to property.

NIA had taken over the investigation of the case on December 18, 2009.

A charge sheet was filed against the eight accused persons, including Yoosaf, on August 1 2010, under section 120B, 124A, 153A and 324 read with 34 of IPC, sections 16(i)b, 18 and 23 of UAPA besides sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act.

The trial in the case against four arrested accused persons was completed on August 11, 2011, after which accused T. Naseer and Safas were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The investigation by the NIA has revealed that the absconding accused Yoosaf had participated in the criminal conspiracy hatched by the prime accused T. Naseer, Safas and others to carry out IED blasts in Kozhikode City in protest over the denial of bail to accused persons involved in the Marad Communal Riots of 2003 at Kozhikode district.

Yoosaf, along with the recently arrested accused Mohammed Ashar, had assisted Naseer in preparing the IEDs and had planted the same at bus stands in Kozhikode City.

[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]