SSI killers had plan to eliminate more cops

The two, identified as Abdul Shameem and Thofeeq, who were nabbed from Udupi in Karnataka, on Tuesday, reportedly told the police team that they wanted to kill at least 20 police personnel as a retaliation to the arrest of their associates from Bengaluru by the Tamil Nadu police.

The duo was kept at the Thuckalai police station under heavy police security for a marathon grilling and later around 9 pm taken to the court for remanding them in judicial custody. The police teams had been questioning the two to extract information on the network of the IS module.

The two are believed to have confessed that they killed Wilson as a retaliation to the arrest of three Bengaluru IS module members by the Tamil Nadu police. The murder of the policeman happened a day after TN Q branch team arrested three members of the IS module from Bengaluru. The police believe that Shameem and Thofeeq randomly selected Wilson and killed him. While Shameem stabbed Wilson, Thofeeq believed to have shot the policeman in point blank killing him near a vehicle check-post on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border on the night of January 8.

The Delhi police had on January 8 arrested Khaja Moideen – mentor of the cop killers and self-styled head of TN IS – along with two others.

Security agencies had already decided to keep a vigil on the people who were in touch with the two arrested. The two will be taken into custody later for a detailed inquiry, the police added.