Exactly a week after a LPG cylinder exploded inside a car in Coimbatore killing its occupant who could have been planning “future attack”, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday began its probe by examining the priest of a Hindu temple near which the blast took place in the early hours of October 23.
Sleuths from the NIA began their probe into the blast after the Coimbatore City Police, which had been investigating the incident since October 23, handed over documents and files relating to the case on Saturday evening. A team from NIA landed in Coimbatore on October 27, a day after the Tamil Nadu government recommended the Union Government to direct the Central agency to take over the probe into the case.
The probe team led by Srijith, Superintendent of Police (SP), NIA, visited the Kottai Eswaran Temple in communally-sensitive Ukkadam in Coimbatore and spoke to the temple’s priest on the incident. The team conducted an inquiry with the temple priest, who was the complainant in the case, spoke to people nearby, and collected further evidence.
Jameesha Mubin, the 29-year-old engineering graduate, was killed when one of the LPG cylinders in his Maruti 800 exploded just yards away from the temple on October 23. Police suspect that Mubin stopped the car after seeing police on duty near the temple and the vehicle exploded minutes later.
Sundaresan, the priest, told the NIA sleuths that the temple name board was damaged in the incident. The probe team will also visit the house where Mubin lived and other places related to the six accused who have been secured so far.
The probe by NIA comes two days after the agency filed a First Information Report (FIR) in which it is mentioned that Mubin was completely burnt and the blast caused damage to the name board of the Kottai Eswaran Temple and shop in front of it.
The FIR says 109 articles, including Potassium Nitrate, Black Powder, matchbox, cracker fuse length of about 2 meters, Nitro Glycerine, PET powder, Aluminium powder, and 9-volt battery, were recovered from Mubin’s residence.
Materials like packing tape, hand gloves, notebooks with details of Islamic ideology and details about ‘jihad’ were also recovered, the NIA said in the FIR.
The Tamil Nadu police, which has recovered over 75 kg of explosives from Mubin’s residence and his associates, hasn’t yet ruled out the terror angle to the incident. It also said Mubin, from whose residence maps of Coimbatore city was found, could have transported the explosives in his car with an intention to carry out terror attacks in the future.
The 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.