One of the six accused in the case of an LPG cylinder blast outside a temple in Coimbatore has admitted to meeting people who were connected to the ISIS unit that was behind the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka, said the Tamil Nadu police, reported news agency PTI.
The National Investigative Agency (NIA), which has taken over the case from the state police, on Friday filed an FIR, where the NIA claimed that it had found 109 items, several of which were used to make explosives and Jihadi literature from Jamesha Mubeen’s residence. Mubeen’s charred remains were found at the spot when one of the two LPG cylinders in his car went off near a temple in the Coimbatore district.
According to PTI, the state police, while conducting their probe, found that Feroze Ismail, the sixth accused arrested in the case, had crossed paths with Mohammed Azharuddin and Rashid Ali, who were imprisoned in Kerala. The police is investigating further on the agenda of the meeting.
After Mubeen’s death, 75 kg of explosives, including potassium nitrate and sulphur, were found at the deceased’s house. The explosion took place in the wee hours of Sunday, a day before Diwali, when Mubeen had tried to evade a police checkpoint as he was crossing the temple in his explosives-laden car.
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Five people were initially arrested and the anti-terror law UAPA was slapped against the accused. On Thursday, the police arrested the sixth accused in the case, a relative of the slain Mubeen. The NIA has taken over the case after a recommendation by the Tamil Nadu government.
The Tamil Governor RN Ravi expressed his concern over Stalin government’s decision to refer the case to NIA after four days. “I give credit to the Tamil Nadu police, but the question is why did it take more than four days to bring in the NIA? We all know that in terror attacks, time is very important. Tamil Nadu police did an excellent job, but Tamil Nadu police is an instrument. Tamil Nadu police cannot tell the NIA to come. But those who were supposed to take the decision, took more than four days…,” said Ravi.