NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency on Monday arrested three more accused in the 2022 ISIS-inspired Coimbatore car bomb blast case.
With the arrest of Aboo Hanifa, Saran Mariappan and Pavas Rahman, the NIA has unearthed the terror financing angle in the case, according to a statement issued by the probe agency.
The investigations revealed that the three accused had colluded to provide funds for the commission of the terror act, the NIA said.
"Aboo Hanifa was employed as a faculty in Kovai Arabic College, where Jamesha Mubeen and other arrested accused persons got radicalised in ISIS ideology," the statement said.
Before carrying out the Coimbatore terror attack, Mubeen had sworn allegiance by giving "bayath" to Abu-Al-Hasan Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi, the then self-styled caliph of terrorist outfit Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
With the latest arrest, the total number of accused apprehended in the case has gone up to 18.
Four charge sheets have been so far filed against 14 accused before the NIA court at Poonamallee, Chennai, it said.
The case relates to a vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) explosion near the ancient Arulmigu Kottai Sangameshwarar Thirukovil temple at Eswaran Kovil Street, Ukkadam, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on October 23, 2022.
The terror attack was perpetrated by deceased accused Mubeen, a self-styled ISIS operative and suicide bomber, as an act of revenge against Kafirs or non-believers of Islam, the statement said.
An offshoot case registered concerning the radicalisation had separately led to the arrest and charge sheeting of four accused by the NIA, it added.