NIA action: 3 arrested in Coimbatore blast case
The three suspects were identified as Mohammed Thoufeek (25), Ferose Khan (28) – both residents of Coimbatore – and Umar Faaruq alias K Srinivasan (39), a resident of Nilgiris district.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested three people in connection with the Coimbatore blast, in which one person, Jameesha Mubin, was charred to death after an LPG cylinder inside a vehicle he was driving exploded near a temple on October 23, the agency said.
The three suspects were identified as Mohammed Thoufeek (25), Ferose Khan (28) – both residents of Coimbatore – and Umar Faaruq alias K Srinivasan (39), a resident of Nilgiris district.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Mubin, after taking “oath of allegiance” to global outfit Islamic State , planned to carry out a suicidal attack and cause extensive damage to symbols and monuments of a particular religious faith and with an intention to strike terror among the people, NIA said in a statement.
“Investigations have revealed that accused persons Umar Faaruq and Ferose Khan were part of the conspiracy meetings attended by Mubin in Faaruq’s residence at Coonor, Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu and also provided support to Mubin in the commission of the terror acts. Mohammed Thoufeek was in possession of incriminating literature/books connected to radical Islam and also had handwritten notes on preparation of explosives,” it added.
Mubin, who was questioned by NIA in 2019 for alleged terror links, was charred to death in suspicious circumstances after an LPG cylinder inside a vehicle he was driving exploded near Kottai Eswaran temple in Coimbatore’s Ukkadam, around 4am on October 23, a day before Diwali. The incident took place around 200 metres from a police patrol.
The deceased was registered as the prime accused in the blast. The state police had invoked the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the case.
NIA suspects a larger conspiracy in the case as Mubin and the six arrested men were were in contact with Mohammad Azharuddin from Ukkadam, who is currently in jail for purported links with ISIS and the deadly Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka in 2019, officials had said earlier.
On November 10, the federal agency raided 44 locations in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It conducted searches in eight districts in Tamil Nadu, mainly Chennai, Coimbatore, Thiruvallur, Tiruppur, Nilgiris, Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram and Nagapattinam, and in Palakkad district in Kerala.
Local police earlier recovered 75 kgs of potassium nitrate, charcoal, sulphur and aluminum powder, used for making explosives, from Mubin’s residence in Ukkadam.
In 2018, NIA had begun an investigation into an ISIS module headed by Azharuddin in Coimbatore. Based on its findings, Indian agencies sent three alerts to Sri Lanka security agencies about a possible plan to carry out a major strike there.
After the Sri Lanka bombings killed over 250 people, NIA registered a suo-motu case against six people from Coimbatore.
During the course of the probe, NIA learnt that Azharuddin and his associate, Sheikh Hidayatulla, were in touch with bombings mastermind Maulvi Zahran bin Hashim and were planning to carry out similar strikes in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
As first reported by HT earlier, Hashim and Mohammad Azaan, one of the suicide bombers in the Sri Lanka attacks, had visited India in 2017 and 2018 to discuss the plans of the Islamic State.
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