After NIA filed FIR charge sheet in the Coimbatore blast case, the details of the charges made by the NIA has been revealed. According to the charge sheet, over a hundred incriminating items have been recovered from the residence of the man who died in the blast in the car. It is notable that earlier it was thought to be a simple cylinder blast case, but later terror angle emerged in the incident, after which the case was handed over to the NIA/
In the incident, a 25-year-old man died on October 22 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, when an LPG cylinder in a car exploded in the communally sensitive Kottaimedu district. The deceased in the Coimbatore blast was identified as Jamesha Mubin, a resident of Kottaipudur, near GM Nagar in Ukkadam. Mubin is said to be an engineering graduate. Now, shocking details about the case have emerged in the FIR filed by the National Investigative Agency (NIA).
The Maruti 800 car in which the blast occurred at around 4 pm near a Hindu temple belonged to Jamesha Mubeen. The NIA has also recovered materials used in making bombs and notebooks containing information on Islam and Jihad.
Notably, the NIA registered the case after Home Ministry’s Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalization (CTCR) issued an order directing the agency to initiate an investigation into the case.
The NIA team searched the Mubin’s premises and seized 109 articles, including potassium nitrate, black powder, matchbox, cracker fuse length of about 2 meters, Nitro Glycerin, red phosphorous, PETN powder, Aluminium powder, OXY 99 Breathe pure Oxygen cylinder, Sulphur powder, Sterile Surgical blade, and other bomb-making materials, as well as notebooks with information on Islamic ideology and Jihad.
So far, Tamil Nadu police have arrested six people in connection with the case and have invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). All the arrested persons are said to be associates of Jameesha Mubin. Mubin was also questioned by the central anti-terror agency in 2019 over alleged ISIS links, according to the police. Mubin had made preparations for a blast earlier also, but the plan had been foiled, the police informed.
According to media reports, Mubeen was also in contact with Sri Lankan Islamic cleric Zahran Hashim on Facebook, the mastermind of the Easter bombing in Sri Lanka in 2019. NIA had questioned him at that time regarding the issue. The police also stated that Jamesha Mubeen was a close friend of Muhammed Azharuddin, who is currently in a Kerala jail in connection with the IS case.
Mohammad Thalka, 25, Muhammad Asarudheen, 25, Muhammad Riyaz, 27, Feroz Ismail, 27, Mohammad Navaz Ismail, 27, and Afsar Khan were arrested in connection with the case, and booked under UAPA. Among them, Mohammad Thalka is the son of son of Nawab Khan, who is the brother of Syed Ahmed Basha, founder of the banned group Al Ummah. This group was behind the 1998 Coimbatore bombings that claimed 58 lives.
Afsar Khan, the sixth accused arrested in the Coimbatore blast case, is reportedly Mubeen’s cousin. He appeared in Judicial Magistrate Court yesterday and was sentenced to 14 days in judicial custody. Police and the NIA are operating to uncover a larger conspiracy that may have interstate or international connections.
Reportedly NIA is also looking into the possible link of C.A.Rauf, the Kerala state secretary of banned group Popular Front of India (PFI), with Mubin. Rauf was in hiding since PFI was banned, and he was arrested by the NIA from his residence in Pattambi in Kerala on Thursday night.
