Coimbatore: The murder of a young Muslim atheist in the city has raised several disturbing questions, that of the intelligence failure on the part of police and continuing radicalisation of youth in Coimbatore.Senior police officials, those in the intelligence section, admit that the murder was an alarming development. The arrest of several radical elements, both young and middle aged people, in Coimbatore as well as Tirupur over the past year by various security agencies did give an indication of the radicalisation going on in this part of the state. But the murder has laid bare the inadequacy of surveillance.There are special teams in three wings of the police, Special Intelligence Unit, Special Intelligence Cell and Intelligence section, to monitor radical elements in Coimbatore since the 1998 bomb blasts. They shadow watch people with criminal backgrounds who indulge in suspicious activities. But all three wings had failed in the case of H Farook , though two of the surrendered suspects and one of the arrested persons have a long criminal history.Farook, 31, of Bilal Estate at South Ukkadam was hacked to death by a gang near Ukkadam on the night of March 16. Farook, an atheist, had posted rationalistic views in a WhatsApp group he was administering as well as on Facebook. Preliminary investigation revealed that he was murdered for his atheist views.One of the accused, Saddam Hussain, has a murder case pending against him and another accused Abdul Munaf is facing robbery and murder cases. Hussain is also the brother-in-law of notorious criminal Kichan Buhari from Tirunelveli, who was arrested in connection with the Bengaluru bomb blast. Also, inquiries have revealed that the murder conspiracy was hatched two months ago. During this period, Hussain as well as another accused Akram Jindal had travelled to Bengaluru and met Buhari.Police were not aware of their visits to Bengaluru. "Only after the murder, when we checked their travel history we came to know about their meeting with Buhari," said a police officer."We are monitoring about 50 radical elements in Coimbatore. But all the six accused in the case were not among them. There seems to be a new crop emerging," said a Special Investigation Unit officer. Police said it was impossible to track so many people. "We are just a five-member team. We need more manpower," he said.Another official said there was also lack of coordination among various intelligence wings. For instance, the prison authorities in Bengaluru could have alerted about the frequent visit of two people from Coimbatore to meet Buhari.However, the police admit that this murder was an indication that radicalisation was on the rise, but rule out external elements playing a role in indoctrinating youth. "Social media is one of the causes as spreading views for or against any particular ideology has been made easy," said an officer.

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