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5 held, UAPA invoked as 1 dies in Coimbatore car blast
Mubin, 25, who has been previously questioned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2019 for alleged terror links, has been registered as the primary accused in the case.
Tamil Nadu police on Tuesday invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with the October 23 Coimbatore blast in a car, according to officials. They arrested five men who were associates of Jameesha Mubin, who was charred to death in suspicious circumstances after an LPG cylinder inside a Maruti 800 he was driving exploded near a temple.
Mubin, 25, who has been previously questioned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2019 for alleged terror links, has been registered as the primary accused in the case.
CCTV footage has also emerged where Mubin and a few others were ostensibly carrying heavy objects wrapped in a white cloth from his house to the street on October 22 at around 11.30pm. Three of those arrested are the men in the video, police said, adding they were carrying two LPG cylinders and three cans. Police have recovered the cans and sent them 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).
“It’s a joint conspiracy,” Coimbatore city commissioner K Balakrishnan said during a press conference held in the city on Tuesday. “With full knowledge, Riyaz, Navaz and Feroz helped Mubin move the cylinders and explosives from his house. One person helped coordinate while another gave the Maruti 800 to Mubin.”
The Maruti 800 has been passed through 10 owners and police have identified all of them, an investigator said.
The commissioner declined to comment when asked about a possible terror angle to the explosion. “A bomb has exploded via a cylinder. Forensic experts are identifying what materials have been used. We are investigating all angles,” he said.
“Because they have used explosives for the blast, UAPA has been invoked. They (accused) will be remanded in judicial custody today,” said Balakrishnan. “We have already investigated 20 people in this case. We will continue to search the houses of the suspects and follow their activities.”
The blast occurred near Kottai Eswaran temple on Sunday morning around 4am, just a day before Diwali. There were two LPG cylinders inside the Maruthi 800 out of which one exploded. The incident took place around 200 metres from a police patrol.
“There is a probability that the vehicle did not proceed since they saw the policemen, so the blast happened in this location,” said a senior officer investigating the case.
“Mubin got the car earlier in June after which he learnt to drive. The car is in such bad condition that it cannot be used for commuting. The planning took place long time back, so we cannot link it to the recent NIA raids against PFI members,” the officer said, seeking anonymity.
The officer said that Mubin and the five arrested men were in contact with Mohammad Azharuddin from Ukkadam, who is currently in jail in connection with the Easter Sunday bombing in Sri Lanka in 2019. At least 250 people were killed in the bombing.
“They read and follow the ISIS ideology,” the officer said.
The officer ruled out that it was a case of suicide bombing. “Normally, a suicide bomber would want to cause maximum damage with minimal resources. We found explosives in his house which he wouldn’t have left behind. If indeed his target was the temple, he could have parked the car closer to the temple, he was at a considerable distance away from it,” the officer said.
“So, these aspects do not indicate that it was a suicide mission. Maybe he wanted to go somewhere else and for some reason he did not. The beat officers checked two vehicles around 3.30am before his car came on the street. He could have stopped out of fear and probably could not re-start the car due to some mechanical failure. It’s difficult to tell. The car is completely damaged,” the officer added.
Since the explosion occurred in Ukkadam, a communally sensitive area, the state’s top police officers, including director general of police (DGP) Sylendra Babu and additional DGP (law and order) Thamarai Kannan, rushed to the spot.
The DGP on Sunday said the police found materials used to make explosives in Mubin’s house in Ukkadam. They seized 75 kgs of potassium nitrate, charcoal, aluminium powder and sulphur which can be used to make explosives.
Investigations are underway to find who else was involved in this conspiracy and if they belonged to any extremist group.
Tamil Nadu’s opposition parties on Tuesday criticised the state’s DMK government for deteriorating law-and-order.
“This government is treating the police as an agency for their vendetta without giving them power to reprimand wrongdoers, so there are reports that this is an intelligence failure,” leader of opposition Edappadi Palaniswami said in a statement.
“Is this an accident caused by a gas cylinder explosion or is this a conspiracy?” BJP state president K Annamalai wrote on Twitter, as he questioned chief minister MK Stalin’s silence over what he termed a suicide bombing attack. “It is a clear-cut terror act with ISIS links,” Annamalai said.
The ruling DMK did not react on the matter till the time of filing this report.
State minister and DMK leader V Senthilbalaji downplayed the Opposition’s charges and said: “The DGP rushed to the spot on the CM’s orders.”
