Coimbatore cylinder blast: Tamil Nadu CM Stalin for NIA probe as terror plot thickens

Chennai, Oct 26: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday recommended NIA investigation over the car explosion and resultant death of a person in front of a temple in the city.

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

The city has been brought under a tight security cover, as the explosion occurred in front of Kottai Eswaran Temple in the heart of the city in the communally sensitive Ukkdam area, a day ahead of Deepavali.

The NIA officials are likely to visit the blast site and the house of Jamesha Mubeen, where 75 kg of low-intensive explosives were seized, police said.

The case is still being investigated by the city police only.

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. The Coimbatore City Police late on Monday night arrested five men in connection with the case.

The body of the deceased, which recovered from the blast site, was identified as 25-year-old Jamesa Mubin. As per the cops, the CCTV footage near the house showed five people purportedly taking out a gunny bag from Mubeen's house on Saturday.

A case has been registered in the Ukkadam police station over the incident. The five arrested are: Muhammad Talka, Muhammed Azharuddin, Muhammed Riyaz, Firoze Ismail and Muhammed Nawaz Ismailm, all in their 20s.

Following the Sunday blasts, searches were conducted at the residences of those associated with the Al Ummah. The house of Basha's brother Nawab Khan too was searched.

Khan is currently in jail for his role in the 1998 blasts. The police also questioned Khan's son, Mohammed Thalka. An official tells OneIndia that it may not be a mere co-incidence that the son of a co-accused in the 1998 blast is an accused in the 2022 case. What has made the case even murkier is the WhatsApp status of Mubin before his death written in Tamil and loosely translated to English read,

"if the news about my death reaches you, forgive me for my mistakes. Forgive my shortcomings and particulate in my Janaza and pray for me."

The investigators have also found documents from Mubin's home in which several spots were mentioned which they had planned on carrying out a recce. The Victoria Hall Railway Station, Race course were among some of the places they had planned to reduce.