Bengaluru: A group of seven to eight men from Tamil Nadu had reportedly checked into a lodge in Shivajinagar and had held closed door meetings with some local men there a week before the murder of the secretary of the Shivajinagar unit of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), R. Rudresh, said an officer on condition of anonymity.
The Central Crime Branch of the city police, investigating the sensational broad daylight murder of Rudresh on Kamaraj Road on October 16, has sent out teams to inspect the visitors' records at the city lodges, especially in Shivajinagar, Majestic and Kamakshipalya areas close to the murder and are trying to find out the details of these men, the purpose behind their visit to the city and the people they met here.
"The police are also probing the involvement of Al Ummah and its city network behind Rudresh's murder. He was being followed and on October 16, the assassins knew that he would attend the RSS function near the RBANMS ground. They were shadowing him and killed him in no time, when they got him best. They later escaped in the winding lanes of the surrounding areas. The killers must be local people, who know the lanes and bylanes of the city. They seem to be hired by an external agency," he said.
Al Ummah, which has now resurfaced under a new brand name of 'Base Movement' from the 'Jamaat Qaidat al-jihad fi'shibhi al-qarrat al-Hindiya' or the 'Organisation of the Base of Jihad in the Indian Subcontinent' had figured in the April 2103 Malleswaram blast investigation in which the CCB had arrested and chargesheeted 18 out of the 20 accused, most of who are allegedly members of the Al Ummah. During their interrogation, they had reportedly told the investigators that they were targeting the members of the Right wing groups in South India.
