By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Malappuram: The Union Home Ministry has confirmed the arrest of the two Keralites, accused in the controversial Kerala-Kashmir terror case, caught in Bangladesh. The arrest has been officially registered in Meghalaya. The Union Home Secretary GK Pillai said in a press conference last day that both men were arrested on Wednesday by the BSF in the Meghalaya border.
The Bangladesh Rapid Action Battallion reportedly arrested Thadiyantavide Naseer and Shafas on November 6 from Chittagong. Naseer is the third accused in the Kerala-Kashmir terror case in which young men from Kerala were taken to Kashmir for terrorist activities. Shafas who is a relative of Naseer is reported to have helped the latter. Both were being searched by the police and were found absconding.
The Bangladesh police arrested them reportedly on information from the US that the men were related to David Coleman Headley, the suspected Lashkar e Toiba operative arrested in Chicago. The news of the arrest was announced by the Bangladesh police first. Bangladesh also announced that the men were handed over to India. However, Indian authorities had not confirmed the reports fully. The statement of GK Pillai has put an end to the uncertainty.
The Kerala-Kashmir terror case came into prominence when four Keralites were killed in an encounter with the army in the Kashmir valley in 2008. Thadiyantavide Naseer is supposed to have taken the men to Kashmir. Many persons were arrested from Kannur, Ernakulam and elsewhere in Kerala in connection with the case. Several spiritual groups like the Tareeqath also had come under suspicion during the police investigation in the case.