The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday conducted searches in at least 40 locations across the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka in connection with Coimbatore and Mangaluru cylinder blast cases, reported PTI.
While searches were carried out in 32 places in connection with the Coimbatore blast, eight were linked to the Mangaluru blast.
The searches linked to the Coimbatore case were carried out in 32 places in Tamil Nadu and Kerala — Coimbatore (14), Trichy (1), Nilgiris (2), Tirunelveli (3), Tuticorin (1), Chennai (3), Thiruvannamalai (2), Dindigul (1), Mayiladuthurai (1), Krishnagiri (1), Kanyakumari (1), Tenkasi (1) and Ernakulam (1).
Meanwhile, in connection with the Mangaluru case, searches were carried out across Tiruppur (2) and Coimbatore (1) of Tamil Nadu, Ernakulam (4) of Kerala, and Mysuru (1) of Karnataka.
The NIA had seized digital devices, cash amounting to Rs four lakh, and incriminating documents from the houses of the suspects.
In October last year, a car laden with explosives had exploded in front of the Kottai Eswaran Temple in Coimbatore district in Tamil Nadu, killing the main accused.
The accused, Jamesha Mubeen, after swearing “Bayath” (allegiance) to the ISIS, was planning to carry out a suicide attack on October 23, 2022, and cause extensive damage to the temple complex with the “intention to strike terror” among a section of the society, NIA had said in a statement.
Five persons, all from Coimbatore, have been arrested and charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The second case relates to a pressure cooker bomb blast that took place in a moving auto-rickshaw in Mangaluru City in Karnataka on November 19 last year, leading to injuries to the passenger Mohammed Shariq and the auto-rickshaw driver Purushottam Poojari.