Around 10 days ago Special Sub Inspector of Police Y. Wilson (56) was shot dead by two Islamic terrorists – Abdul Shameem (33) and Toufik (28) – near Kaliyakkavilai check post at the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu.
The accused who travelled in an SUV fired three rounds on Wilson killing him on the spot. They then fled the place in the same vehicle. Their running away from the scene of crime was captured on CCTV cameras and that helped the police, who, four days after the incident, on January 14, nabbed the accused and a few others in Udupi district, Karnataka.
The police’s interrogation of the accused revealed that the killing of Sub Inspector Wilson was to avenge the arrest of their colleagues and retaliate against the police thwarting their plans to carry out terror attacks in Tamil Nadu.
Soon after the shoot out it came to light that Shameem had jumped bail in the case concerning the death of Hindu Munnani leader S. Suresh Kumar in Tiruvallur district in 2014. He along with Ali Nawaz and Khwaja Moideen were accused in the case.
After Shameem’s arrest, the Delhi Police arrested Nawaz and Moideen.
A few days after the arrest of Shameem and Toufik, the Tamil Nadu Police arrested five men – Muhamad Zachariah, Mohammad Ismail, Al Habeeb, Abdul Kadhar, and Karim Nawaz on charges of helping the two accused escape after the shoot out and invoked the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against the accused.
Even as the accused, Shameem and Toufik were planning to kill a policeman, the Tamil Nadu Police sent out an alert to a few states saying that a few fundamentalists it was tracking had disappeared and they could have travelled out of the state.
Following the alert, the Tamil Nadu Police with help from the Karnataka Police arrested three more persons. The arrest of more than 10 Muslims on charges of murder, planning terrorist activities and harbouring extremists in Tamil Nadu shows how widespread terror activities are in the state.
But more worrying is the fact that very few political parties have condemned Special Sub Inspector Wilson’s murder by calling it an act of Islamic extremism.
The main opposition party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which has been identified anti-Hindu and follows the so-called secular brand of politics, had merely questioned the law and order situation in Tamil Nadu.
Its leader M.K. Stalin in two tweets used the opportunity to hit out at the State Government without mentioning a word of who the accused were or even mentioning their names.
முதல்வர், ஆளுநர் உரைக்கு நன்றி தெரிவித்து பேசிய அன்று, களியக்காவிளை சிறப்பு எஸ்ஐ வில்சன் சுட்டுக் கொல்லப்பட்டுள்ளார். தீவிரவாதிகளின் செயல் என்கிறார்கள். காவல் அதிகாரி கத்தியாலும் குத்தப்பட்டுள்ளார் எனச் செய்தி.
காவல் அதிகாரிகளுக்கே பாதுகாப்பில்லை, இதில் தான் தமிழ்நாடு முதலிடம். pic.twitter.com/Cdu2aSGP78
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) January 11, 2020
In a second tweet on the day, Mr. Stalin had merely said the Tamil Nadu Police should arrest whoever are the accused.
"எனது கணவர் குடும்பத்தைவிட காவல்துறையை அதிகம் நேசித்தவர்" என்று உயிரிழந்த வில்சனின் மனைவி கூறியிருப்பது மனவேதனை தருகிறது.
குற்றவாளிகள் யாராயினும் அவர்கள் தண்டிக்கப்பட தமிழக அரசு தீவிர நடவடிக்கை எடுக்க வேண்டும். காவல்துறையினர் கொல்லப்படுவது இதுவே கடைசியாக இருக்க வேண்டும்! pic.twitter.com/1iVjaK74PM
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) January 11, 2020
Once again he failed to mention who the suspects were, perhaps in a bid to hide the Muslim names of the accused.
A Dalit party leader, Thirumavalavan, of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, went on to say that even before the police could arrest the accused and reveal the motives, none should say things that would hinder the investigation.
“Based only on CCTV images coming to a conclusion or the media concluding that these are the accused could hamper the investigation,” he had said in a tweet on January 10, the day of the murder.
காவல் அதிகாரி வில்சன் சுட்டுக்கொலை:
தமிழகத்திலும் பயங்கரவாதம் பரவாமல் தடுக்க வேண்டும்! #Thiruma#Thirumavalavan#SIWilson @bbctamil @PTTVOnlineNews @News18TamilNadu @news7tamil @polimernews @dinakaranonline @dinathanthi @ani_digital @nakkheeranweb pic.twitter.com/LDfArrXM60— Thol. Thirumavalavan (@thirumaofficial) January 10, 2020
The two ‘secular’ politicians’ stand after Wilson’s cold-blooded murder while on duty stands in contrast to the statements they had made after the gunning down of Bengaluru journalist Gauri Lankesh. Without waiting for the Bengaluru Police statement, the two had labelled that it was an act of Hindu terror and Hindu organisations were behind the incident.
But tweeple exposed their duplicity in no time, questioning why they were trying to hide the identity of the suspects in Wilson’s murder. It is also pertinent to note that this entire chain of events, from the policeman’s murder to arrest of Tamil Muslim terrorists linked to ISIS from states as varied as TN, Karnataka, Delhi, Gujarat, has failed to make it to front pages of mainstream English-language national newspapers.
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