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TN cops say no evidence to link Mangaluru with Coimbatore blast
Tamil Nadu police are gathering details of Shariq’s associates as during the probe it was revealed that he had used the Aadhaar Card of a Coimbatore resident Surendran to obtain a SIM card
Tamil Nadu police are probing if the prime accused in the Mangaluru auto rickshaw blast case has any links with the prime accused (now deceased) and his associates in this year’s Coimbatore car blast, officials privy to the matter said on Monday. “As of now we have not found any evidence to link them,” said a top police official of Tamil Nadu.
Accused Mohammed Shariq,24, is one of the two people who got injured and, suffered 50% burns, in the Mangaluru blast on Saturday, which the state has described as a “terrorist act”, police said.
Accused Jameesha Mubeen, 25, was charred to death when one of the cylinders in the Maruti 800, he was driving, exploded in Coimbatore on October 23. Presently, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is probing the case.
Tamil Nadu police are gathering details of Shariq’s associates as during the probe it was revealed that he had used the Aadhaar Card of a Coimbatore resident Surendran to obtain a SIM card. Karnataka police also suspect that Shariq was in Tamil Nadu to procure materials for the bomb. “Shariq has not been in our radar before,” said a senior police official from Coimbatore.
Meanwhile, Nilgiris superintendent of police Ashish Rawat dismissed the reports that Surendran has been detained for questioning. “We have not arrested him or anyone in this case,” Rawat said.
Both Shariq and Mubeen have been found to be sympathisers of the Islamic State (IS), police said. Earlier, Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and top police officers had said that the autorickshaw blast was caused by an improvised explosive device (IED).
In case of Tamil Nadu blast, the NIA on November 10 had said that six of the arrested men had conspired with the deceased Mubeen to procure different chemicals for making IEDs from “online shopping platforms to commit sensational terrorist acts.”
Before handing over the case to the NIA, the Coimbatore police had arrested six men (Mubeen’s accomplices) invoking the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and seized 75 kg of potassium nitrate, aluminium powder, charcoal, and sulphur used to make low explosive materials from Mubeen’s house.
In 2019, the NIA had questioned Mubeen, an engineering graduate, for his connection with Mohammad Azharuddin who is currently in jail for the deadly Easter Sunday bombing in Sir Lanka in 2019.
On November 10, NIA conducted searches across Tamil Nadu and stated that: “After taking an oath to IS, Mubeen was planning to carry out a suicidal attack and cause extensive damage to symbols and monuments of a particular religion with the intention to strike terror among a particular section of community.”
