Nearly three decades after a series of bombings rocked Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, police have apprehended a key suspect in Karnataka. The accused, known as 'Tailor' Raja, was a member of the banned terror outfit Al Ummah. He is implicated in the February 14, 1998, serial bombings that killed 58 people and injured over 250.

The arrest was made in the Vijayapura district of Karnataka by a joint team of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and Coimbatore City Police on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. 'Tailor' Raja, whose real name is believed to be Shahjahan Abdul Majid Makandar, is also known by aliases such as Sadiq and Valarntha Raja. The 50-year-old was brought to Coimbatore and produced before the Fifth Judicial Magistrate Court on Thursday, July 10, and has been remanded in judicial custody until July 24.

Police reports indicate that Raja had been evading arrest since 1996. In addition to the 1998 Coimbatore blasts, he is suspected of involvement in several other terror and communal violence cases across Tamil Nadu. These include the 1996 Molotov cocktail attack in Coimbatore that resulted in the death of a jail warder, Boopalan, the murder of Sayeetha in Nagore in 1996, and the murder of jailor Jayaprakash in Madurai in 1997.

The 1998 Coimbatore bombings involved coordinated explosions across the city. The bombs, containing time-delay mechanisms, were placed in cars, two-wheelers, abandoned bags, and other locations. The attacks occurred shortly before senior BJP leader L.K. Advani was scheduled to address an election rally in the city. Seventeen individuals, including Al Ummah founder S.A. Basha, were previously convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for their involvement in the bombings. S.A. Basha has since died.

The arrest of 'Tailor' Raja follows the recent apprehension of two other absconding accused, Abubacker Siddique and Mohamed Ali, in Andhra Pradesh. Abubacker Siddique had been evading arrest since 1995 and was implicated in several terror-related incidents, including the 1995 Hindu Munnani office blast in Chennai, a parcel bomb explosion in Nagore in the same year, coordinated bomb planting in 1999 at multiple locations, the 2011 pipe bomb planting attempt during L.K. Advani's Rath Yatra in Madurai, the 2012 murder of Dr. Arvind Reddy in Vellore, and the 2013 bomb blast near the BJP office in Bengaluru. Mohamed Ali was wanted in connection with the 1999 bomb planting incidents at multiple locations in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin lauded the Anti-Terrorism Squad and intelligence officials for the arrest, reaffirming Tamil Nadu's commitment to internal security. He also thanked the police forces of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh for their assistance in apprehending the accused.