CHENNAI/COIMBATORE: A high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday decided to send a recommendation to the Union government to initiate a National Investigation Agency probe into the Coimbatore car blast as the incident may have international links that go beyond Tamil Nadu’s borders.
The meeting also decided to create a new State police branch to prevent recurrence of such incidents and install more sophisticated surveillance cameras in Coimbatore, other major towns of the State, and in places where people live in large numbers. The meeting, in which the CM discussed the law and order situation in TN, also decided to establish three more police stations at Karumbukkadai, Sundarapuram, and Goundampalayam to strengthen security in Coimbatore city. Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu, Home Secretary K Phanindra Reddy, DGP C Shylendra Babu, ADGP (Intelligence) S Davidson Devasirvatham and senior officials took part in the meeting held at the State secretariat.
Meanwhile, a team of NIA officers led by DIG K B Vandana from Kerala visited the Coimbatore Police Commissioner’s Office and collected details relating to the case. A day after five people were arrested under UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act), sleuths of the special investigation team of TN police on Wednesday searched the house of K Afzal Khan (28) of Ukkadam, who is said to be a relative of A Jameesha Mubin who died in the blast on Sunday, for an hour and seized a few items including a laptop.
The Coimbatore District Principal Sessions Court on Wednesday gave police three days custody of the five accused arrested in the case.The Coimbatore city police have also seized 12 cars that were lying unattended for long on Vincent Road at Ukkdadam. Police later said seven cars were handed over to their owners after they produced documents.A peace meeting was also conducted by Collector GS Sameeran and Commissioner of Police V Balakrishnan with members of the district united jamaat at the collector’s office.
During the discussion, authorities requested the jamaat members to extend their cooperation to track suspicious activities of miscreants. According to sources, the jamaat members demanded stringent action against perpetrators behind the car blast and wanted all those involved in the case to be arrested. They also sought strengthening of intelligence units to prevent such incidents in the future. At a press briefing after the meeting, commissioner V Balakrishnan said they have been taking measures to strengthen intelligence gathering.
"As per CM’s instruction to strengthen security measures, the number of police beats, patrols, pickets and check posts has been increased. Similarly, as part of strengthening of ground-level intelligence for communicating information from the public to the police department, we have increased foot patrolling as part of confidence-building measures,” he said. "We suspect that the blast happened at the place as the car was slowed down on seeing police personnel stationed 200 metres from the spot," Balakrishnan said. Steps would be taken to hand over the case to NIA after receiving a formal communication, the officer said.
Peace meeting organised
A peace meeting was also conducted by Collector GS Sameeran and Commissioner of Police V Balakrishnan with members of the district united jamaat at the collector’s office