Day after five people were arrested in connection with an LPG cylinder blast in front of a temple in Coimbatore’s Ukkadam on Sunday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday said that the state will recommend to the Centre that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) take over the ongoing probe being conducted by the state police.
The blast claimed the life of a 25-year-old Jameza Mubin, who was driving the vehicle carrying the LPG cylinder, in the wee hours of Sunday. Soon after the blast, the police, on raiding Mubin’s residence, seized a large quantity of explosives from his residence.
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Incidentally, Mubin had already been quizzed by the NIA back in 2019 following the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka, that had claimed at least 250 lives, reported The Indian Express.
Stalin, addressing the press, said that the decision to recommend the case to the anti-terror agency came in the wake of several links extending beyond the state. The decision was taken after consulting top officials of the state including chief secretary V Irai Anbu, home secretary K Phanindra Reddy, DGP C Sylendra Babu and others after the stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) was slapped against the accused, following their arrest.
The accused, identified as Mohammad Dhalha (25), Mohammad Azarudheen (25), Mohammad Riyaz (27), Feroz Ismal (27) and Mohammad Navaz Ismail (27), were sent to judicial remand on Wednesday.
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Soon after a terror angle emerged in connection with the case, the opposition including the BJP lashed out at the DMK government over a lapse in the intelligence machinery of the state. BJP’s Mahila Morcha president and MLA Vanathi Srinavasan cornered the Stalin government, claiming that the ruling party was keeping mum in a bid to keep its minority vote bank intact, reported IE.