Calling the October 23 car blast in front of a temple in Coimbatore a “terrorist attack”, Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi wondered what took the state government four days to refer the case to the National Investigative Agency (NIA) where time plays a crucial role.

“Within few hours of the attack, it became very clear that it was a terrorist attack. It was very clear that the materials they were using was part of a larger conspiracy. And 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.

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Stating that India’s “adversaries” wanted to disrupt the peace, he pointed out that the terrorists wanted to hamper the country’s progress by waging a “proxy war.”

“We are aware that terrorists don’t work alone. They belong to a larger network…Those involved in the blast case have been under our radar in the past. Then where did we go wrong?  Did we lose our monitoring system?,” asked Ravi, adding that most of the operatives were trained in countries like Afghanistan and Syria.

Earlier, the MK Stalin government was cornered by the Opposition BJP, which claimed that the incident was an outcome of the breakdown of the state’s intelligence machinery.

Jamesha Mubeen, who was driving the car, died on the spot as one of the two LPG cylinders in the car exploded. In another CCTV footage that appeared soon after the incident, Mubeen was seen moving an heavy item in a bag along with his accomplices the night before the blast. After the blast, the state police recovered 75 kg of explosives from Mubeen’s house. According to an Indian Express report, Mubeen was already question by the NIA back in 2019 in connection with the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka, that had claimed at least 250 lives.

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The police arrested six accomplices of Mubeen, after his death and booked them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. They have been sent to judicial remand now.

The NIA, in its FIR, has claimed that 109 items including potassium nitrate, black powder, nitroglycerin, PETN powder, aluminium powder, sulphur powder, sterile surgical, Jihadi notes were recovered from the deceased Mubeen’s house, as reported by news agency ANI.