Security beefed up in Coimbatore before verdict

Tiruchirapalli, July 31 (UNI) Security has been beefed up in the central districts of Tamil Nadu a day ahead of verdict to be delivered by a special court in the sensational serial blasts case in Coimbatore tomorrow.

A senior police official told UNI over the telephone that armed police personnel were posted in the historic temples and other places of worship, besides vital installations and vulnerable areas in the districts of Tiruchirapalli, Karur, Perambalur, Pudukkottai, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Thiruvarur. The security personnel were frisking devotees before permitting them into temples and were also examining their baggage.

Security has been tightened in all the important railway stations, bus stands and places where people assemble in large numbers. Plainclothes men were also deployed to monitor the situation to prevent any untoward incident.

A round-the-clock vigil has been sounded in Tiruchirapalli city, where police patrolling and vehicle check-ups has been intensified.

The serial blasts occurred in Coimbatore on February 14, 1998 in which 50 people were killed and more than 200 injured, minutes before Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)leader L K Advani's election campaign there.

In all 19 explosions were triggered by the extremists that rocked the entire nation.

UNI