Coimbatore car blast to be probed by NIA orders MHA

New Delhi, Oct 27: A day after the Tamil Nadu government recommended a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the recent Coimbatore LPG cylinder explosion in a car, the Union Government has handed over the case to the central agency.

The order was passed taking into consideration the magnitude of the case and also the inter-state ramifications of the same. "NIA will take over the case very soon," a top government official told ANI.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday recommended the NIA investigation over the car explosion and resultant death of a person in front of a temple.

The decision was taken after Stalin reviewed the law and order situation in the wake of the incident.

A man was burnt to death when the car he was in a gas cylinder fitted inside the car exploded at Ukkadam, near the famed Sangameshwarar temple in the city on Sunday morning, PTI reported.

The police on Thursday arrested one more person in connection with the recent car explosion in the city, as he allegedly helped in procuring a large number of explosive material through e-commerce platforms.

With him, a total of six persons have been arrested so far. The 28-year old Khan is a relative of Mubin and had helped purchase a large quantity of explosive materials from e-commerce platforms, police said.

Since the time of the incident, the police have conducted raids, searches at several locations, during which 75 kg of explosive material have been recovered from the residences of Jameesha Mubin and others. Mubin the prime accused was in the car in which the cylinder exploded near the 'Kottai Eshwaran Temple'.

Sources tell OneIndia that the police have also recovered black powder, potassium nitrate, aluminium powder, charcoal and sulfur, all of which is used to prepare bombs.

All the evidence gathered so far indicates that this could have been a case of suicide bombing. Further looking at the material that has been recovered and the digital evidence, it suggests that these radical Islamist elements were in the process of carrying out more blasts. Officials explain that prima facie it appears that their primary targets were the Hindu community.