Tamil Nadu’s Bharatiya Janata Party leader K Annamalai wrote a note to Chief Minister MK Stalin on his social media requesting him to not release “radical Islamic fundamentalists involved in the Coimbatore Bomb Blast from prison”. He stated that some seemed focusing on minority appeasement—possibly in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections—and demanded that safety be made the top priority.
In Tuesday’s session of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, the release of those convicted in the Coimbatore bomb blasts was brought up by AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS). EPS pushed the DMK government to release 36 Muslim convicts, including 16 who are in prison for their role in the Coimbatore blasts. Even the DMK had supported their release.
On 10 October, Annamalai wrote on X (formerly Twitter) “In February 1998, a bomb blast by Radical Islamic Fundamentalists in a serene city like Coimbatore led to the loss of 58 lives and injured over 200. The SC last week stuck down the bail application filed by a few convicts in this case & reiterated it as an atrocious act. Despite all this, today, the Tamil Nadu assembly discussed the release of Terrorists serving life imprisonment for their involvement in the Coimbatore bomb blast & other heinous acts. While the wound of 1998 is yet to heal, last October, a suicide bombing incident shook Coimbatore again & NIA arrested 13 radicals involved in this terrorist act. Minority appeasement seems to have taken the driver’s seat for a few, and the safety of those who elected them has taken the back seat. We hope good sense prevails and the TN CM Thiru @mkstalin will stop this misadventure of releasing the radical Islamic fundamentalists involved in the Coimbatore Bomb Blast from prison.”
It was on 4 October that the Supreme Court struck down the bail application of some of the convicts in the 1998 serial bomb blast case. A bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul stated, “All of us are unanimous that the bail cannot be granted…You may be inside for 25 years but 58 people lost their lives in this incident. That is good enough a reason for you to remain inside.”
Between 14 and 17 February 1998, there were 19 explosions that rocked Coimbatore leaving 58 people dead and around 250 injured. The prime convicts in the case were SA Basha and Mohammed Ansari, leaders of the Muslim militant organisation, Al-Umma.