The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday arrested six persons in connection with the Coimbatore bomb blast case. The arrests were made after the NIA conducted searches at 43 locations across Tamil Nadu and one location in Kerala. The NIA officials also seized digital devices and incriminating documents from these spots.
The searches were made in connection to a case pertaining to a bomb blast in a car laden with explosives in front of Kottai Eswaran Temple of Coimbatore district on 23 October this year.
“These searches were conducted in eight districts of Tamil Nadu namely Chennai, Coimbatore, Thiruvallur, Thiruppur, Nilgiris, Chengalpatu, Kanchipuram and Nagapattinam. One location had also been carried out in the Palakkad district of Kerala,” read an official statement. According to preliminary investigations, accused Jamesha Mubeen, allegedly after taking oath to ISIS, was planning to carry out a suicidal attack and cause extensive damage, with the intention to strike terror, according to a statement from NIA. The case was initially registered with the police station in Ukkadam, Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu, and re-registered by NIA on 10 October 2022. The statement said that the accused persons had conspired with deceased Jamesha Mubeen to procure different chemicals and other ingredients for fabrication of improvised explosive devices (IED), including vehicle-borne IED, from online shopping platforms to commit terrorist acts.