Tamil Nadu to hand over Coimbatore explosion case probe to NIA

Kovai Car blast: Anti-terror agency to probe Coimbatore car blast case after seeing links of ISIS supporting modules behind the car blast

Kovai Car blast: Anti-terror agency to probe Coimbatore car blast case after seeing links of ISIS supporting modules behind the car blast
Kovai Car blast: Anti-terror agency to probe Coimbatore car blast case after seeing links of ISIS supporting modules behind the car blast

Decision to hand over the probe to NIA was taken in a high-level meet chaired by CM M K Stalin

Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday recommended to the Central government to conduct a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the Coimbatore explosion case after seeing links of ISIS supporting modules behind the car blast. The State government also announced raising a special police force to foil sabotage and bolster its intelligence wing. The decision to hand over the probe to NIA was taken in a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister M K Stalin on the present status of the investigation.

On 23 October, 75-kg explosives were seized in Coimbatore from the residence of 29-year-old Jameesha Mubeen who was killed after a gas cylinder exploded. The explosion happened while he was moving past a temple on a car in Tamil Nadu’s western textile city and he had allegedly tried to evade a police check post. Senior officials of the NIA held discussions in Coimbatore on Wednesday with Tamil Nadu police over the explosion and the investigation.

TN Police found the links of Jamseehsa Mubeen with terror links and were already on NIA radar in earlier terror-linked cases. Mubin was quizzed by the NIA in 2019 in connection with a case on the propagation of ISIS ideology. In 1998, Coimbatore witnessed bomb blasts. Police already arrested five persons associated with him. The arrested were identified as Muhammed Talka, Muhammed Azharuddin, Muhammed Riyaz, Firoze Ismail, and Muhammed Nawaz, said Coimbatore City Police Commissioner V Balakrishnan.[1]

Quoting Chief Minister Stalin’s directives to officials in the meeting here, the government said it was decided to recommend to the Centre to entrust the case to the NIA. The move is considering the possibilities of links transcending Tamil Nadu borders and the likelihood of international connections emerging during the investigation of the explosion case, an official release here said.

As part of measures to further strengthen security, the government said it would set up new police stations at the three localities of Karumbu Kadai, Sundarapuram, and Koundampalayam in Coimbatore. During Stalin’s review of the overall law and order and security scenario in the state, it was decided to install additional high-tech surveillance cameras in key cities of Tamil Nadu including Coimbatore.

The Chief Minister directed officials to post additional personnel in the intelligence wing and protect and encourage informers. Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu, Director General of Police C Sylendra Babu, and top state and intelligence officials took part in the high-level meeting. Coimbatore was brought under a tight security cover, following the explosion in front of Kottai Eswaran Temple in the heart of the city in the communally sensitive Ukkadam area, on Deepavali eve.

In the meanwhile, over 100 BJP workers and sections of local people held a prayer meeting and lit lamps in front of the Lord Shiva temple to thank the presiding deity for protecting the city and its people from a “big disaster”. BJP State President K Annamalai, who was a former IPS Officer, blamed the State government for delays and going soft on the matter. He said the module is linked to pro-ISIS sympathizers and they were planning a suicide attack kind plan in the city.

Reference:

[1] Coimbatore car blast: Five arrested, UAPA invoked. NIA may take over the caseOct 25, 2022, PGurus.com

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