Coimbatore car blast case: NIA initiates searches in 15 locations across Tamil Nadu

Chennai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday conducted searches at 15 locations across Tamil Nadu in connection with the Coimbatore car blast on the eve of Deepavali in October 2022.

A suspected suicide bomber, 29-year-old engineering graduate Jameesha Mubin, was killed when one of the LPG cylinders in his Maruti 800 exploded just yards away from famous Kottai Eswaran temple in communally-sensitive Ukkadam in Coimbatore on October 23, 2022.

The searches were conducted in Coimbatore, Chennai, Tirunelveli, Madurai, and Tiruchirapalli during which several “incriminating evidence” is believed to have been seized.

NIA, which took over the investigation within four days of the incident, has so far arrested 15 people and claims that Mubin was inspired by ISIS and believes was on his way to “strike at a target” when the LPG cylinder in his car exploded.

Police suspect that Mubin stopped the car after seeing police on duty near the temple and the vehicle exploded minutes later. The NIA says Mubin was planning to carry out a suicide attack cause extensive damage to the temple complex with the “intention to strike terror among a section of the society.”

The Coimbatore incident came weeks after an alert was sounded across the country following a ban on Popular Front of India (PFI). Coimbatore has always been communally-sensitive especially after the 1998 blasts killed 58 people in which BJP leader L K Advani had a miraculous escape.

As many as 109 articles, including Potassium Nitrate, Black Powder, match box, cracker fuse length of about 2 meters, Nitro Glycerine, PET powder, Aluminium powder, and 9-volt battery, were recovered from Mubin’s residence, after the blast.