Coimbatore blast: NIA steps in, TN cops arrest five persons

Chennai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will take over the probe into the recent car bomb blast near a temple in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and the agency has already launched preliminary inspections in this regard.

As per preliminary police assessment, a major terror attack on the lines of the 2019 Easter Day bombing in Sri Lanka was intended in the industrial city which was the scene of a serial bomb blast in 1998.

In the latest scare a 25-year-old youth named Jamesha Mubin of G M Nagar, Ukkadam in the city who was the lone occupant of the car, was killed. The blat occurred near the Sangameshwara Temple near Town Hall.

Mubin had been questioned by the NIA in 2019 in connection with a case linked to the terror outfit Islamic State. According to police officers, Mubeen had made preparations for a blast earlier also, but they had foiled the plan.

Mubin's contacts held
Soon after the blast, the Tamil Nadu police arrested five youths who maintained close links with Mubin. These youths had a role in sourcing the explosives and making plans for the blasts, said officers. The arrested youths were traced from the CCTV visuals obtained from near Mubin’s house and the Sangameshwara Temple.

Before the arrests, the police had raided the house of one Nawab, who is the brother of S A Basha, the founder of the banned organization Al Umma. Basha was the first accused in the Coimbatore serial bomb blasts case of February 14, 1998 in which 59 people were killed and over 200 persons injured.

Those arrested are Nawab’s son Muhammed Dhalha and four others; Nawab Ismail, Firoz Ismail, Muhammed Riyaz and Muhammed Azaruddin.

Mubin was a Facebook friend of Sri Lankan Islamic cleric Zahran Hashim, considered the mastermind of the Easter Day blasts in Sri Lanka. Investigating agencies had brought Mubin under their surveillance after coming across this Facebook connection.

Hashim, who is the leader of the National Thowheed Jamaath, was based in south India, investigators had found out earlier.

Tamil Nadu police officers also said that Mubin was a close friend of Muhammed Azaruddin, who is now lodged in a jail in Kerala over the IS case.

CCTV visuals key evidence

From CCTV visuals, the police learnt that the arrested youths had loaded an item resembling a gas cylinder in the car involved in the blast at 11.45 pm on Saturday. The car exploded during the early hours of Sunday killing Mubin. The police said that there were two gas cylinders in the car, one of which exploded.

Officers also said that Mubin had opened the valves of both cylinders and reached the Sangameshwara Temple around 4 am, when the blast took place. The car split into two following the incident.

Later, the police examined Mubin’s house, where materials used to make explosives were recovered. Forensic experts who checked the car also found that nails and marble pieces were strewn in the car to maximize the damage.