Coimbatore explosion case: One more person held

Coimbatore: The police on Thursday arrested one more person in connection with the recent car explosion in the city that left one dead, as he allegedly helped in procuring a large number of explosive material through e-commerce platforms.

The arrested man-Afsar Khan- a local resident, had reportedly played a major role in sourcing explosive materials seized from the house of Jamesha Mubin, the victim in the car explosion here on October 23, a day ahead of Deepavali. With him, a total of six persons have been arrested so far.

The 28-year old Khan is a relative of Mubin and had helped purchase a large quantity of explosive materials from e-commerce platforms, police said.

Khan fell in the police dragnet after he was questioned on suspicion for more than five hours and a search of his house which led to the seizure of a laptop on Wednesday, which was sent for cyber analysis.

Police had earlier arrested five persons in connection with the explosion under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, even as senior officials of the National Investigating Agency (NIA) are camping here.

The Tamil Nadu government had announced on Wednesday that the probe into the matter will be handed over the NIA.

Meanwhile, police began the interrogation of the five arrested-- Muhammad Thalha, Muhammad Azharuddin, Muhammad Riyas, Muhammed Nawaz and Firoz Ismail, as the 5th Judicial Magistrate here granted three days custody.

On October 23, 75-kg of explosives, including potassium nitrate were seized from the residence of 29-year old Mubeen who was killed after a gas cylinder exploded in the car in which he was travelling.

The explosion happened while he was moving past a temple in the car in this western textile city and he had allegedly tried to evade a police check post.