Coimbatore, July 10 -- Tamil Nadu Police have arrested one of the key accused in the 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blasts case and communal murder cases across the state, officials said on Thursday.

The arrested accused has been identified as Sadiq alias Raja alias Tailor Raja alias Valarntha Raja alias Shahjahan Abdul Majid Makandar alias Shahjahan Shaik. The accused is a native of Coimbatore and has been absconding for the past 29 years and never been arrested since 1996, they said.

According to a release, acting on specific and credible intelligence, the accused was arrested by a special team from the Anti-Terrorism Squad and Coimbatore City Police in the Vijayapura district of Karnataka.

The arrested accused is involved in several te...