In a significant development, the
special teams, probing the Sunday’s Coimbatore LPG car
blast case in which a radicalised IS person was killed,
today raided the premises of his relative and seized
some incriminating documents including a laptop that
is expected to throw more details in the case.
Police sources said the investigating team questioned
the 28-year-old man for several hours, following which
his residence was searched on the basis of grilling
five people arrested in connection with the incident.
During the searches, a laptop was seized from the house
and it has been sent for cyber analysis.
The searches followed preliminary invesigations conducted
with the five associates–before their judicial remand–of
the mastermind, who was killed in the car blast, and were
involved in shifting a huge bag from his house a couple of
hours prior to the blast.
It may be recalled that the mastermind Jameesha Mubin,
a radicalised IS person,was killed early on Sunday when
one of the two LPG cylinders carried in car along with
marbles and nails, exploded in front of a temple in
Coimbatore, apparently a ploy reviving the grim reminder
of the 1998 serial blasts, as his links with some of the
terror outfit leaders was unravelled.
After the blast, police raided Mubin’s house and seized
more than 75 kgs of explosive materials and a potential
plot targetting select installations in that city.
This prompted the Tamil Nadu government to transfer the
investigation into the case to the NIA as five of those
arrested in the case, had purportedly links with terror
outfits.
The decision to recommend a NIA probe was taken at a high
level meeting chaired by Chief Minister M.K.Stalin in which
the present law and order situation in the state was
discussed, apart from the present status of the blast probe
and the precautionary measures put in place in Coimbatore
to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future.
The Coimbatore Police had invoked Sections 16 (punishment
for terrorist act) and 18 (punishment for conspiracy, etc.)
of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the
accused, after finding prima facie evidence of a suspected
terror plot, considering the materials found at Mubin’s
house and the presence of two LPG cylinders, nails, marbles
and chemicals in the car, possibly meant for a high impact
explosion.
