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Coimbatore car blast: CM Stalin recommends NIA probe, says international links likely
Stalin's recommendation comes a day after the Tamil Nadu Police invoked the UAPA in the case involving the car blast.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Wednesday recommended the National Investigation Agency (NIA) take up inquiries into Sunday's Coimbatore car blast. Reports said that the decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Stalin earlier in the day. Tamil Nadu Police had earlier invoked the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) as they arrested five men - associates of Jameesha Mubin, who was charred to death while driving a Maruti 800 in which an LPG cylinder exploded near a temple under suspicious circumstances.
A Tamil Nadu government release said the NIA had been called in considering the possibilities of links transcending state borders and the likelihood of international connections.
The arrests were made after CCTV footage showed Mubin and a few other men ostensibly carrying heavy objects wrapped in a white cloth from his house to the street around 11.30 pm on Saturday night. Three of the accused who were arrested can be seen in the video, police said, adding they were carrying two LPG cylinders and three cans.
The cans were recovered from the blast site and sent for forensic analysis.
The five people arrested on Monday night were Mohammad Thalka (25), Mohammad Asarudheen (25), Muhammad Riyaz (27), Feroz Ismail (27) and Mohammad Navaz Ismail (27).
