COIMBATORE: Suspects in the Coimbatore car blast case, including Jameesha Mubin, who died in the explosion, may have plotted terror attacks on six temples in the city, say police sources based on investigation. The suspects had also conducted a recce near the Sangameswarar Temple before the car explosion on October 23, sources said.
Puliyakulam Mundhi Vinayagar Temple and Townhall Koniamman Temple, visited by devotees in large numbers, and three other temples in the city were among the targets, police said. The details were revealed by the suspects during the three-day custodial interrogation, sources said.
According to police sources, Jameesha Mubin was closely associated with his cousins Muhammad Azharudheen and Afsar Khan who allegedly helped him with the execution of the plot. The accused conducted recces and the blast occurred when Mubin was allegedly transporting the explosives to some other place in the city, police said.
The Sangameswarar Temple at Kottaimedu could have been one of their targets but fortunately the explosive went off accidentally when Jameesha Mubin slowed his car on seeing police at Eswaran Kovil Street-Big Bazaar Street junction, about 200 metres away from the temple.
The custodial inquiry of the accused had also revealed that Mubin was residing in a rented house near Sangameswarar Temple till a month ago. The house owner helped police identity Mubin’s body after the blast.
According to an order passed by the Judicial Magistrate Court V on Wednesday giving police three-day custody of the accused, two of the suspects, Muhammad Riyas and Nawaz Ismail, who were charged with helping Mubin shift the explosives from his house to the car, told the court that they were being falsely framed in the case. They claimed that they were the first to inform police about the blast and even shared the location to help police reach the spot. But police later arrested us, they told the court.
Meanwhile, the Coimbatore city police have been collating all the documents and evidences collected by them for handing them over to NIA. "We have completed the first set of investigation and consolidated all documents and material evidence collected so far to hand them over to NIA. The process would be completed by Saturday,” police commissioner V Balakrishnan said.
Meanwhile, a temporary office for NIA has been opened on the premises of Police Recruits School in the city on Saturday. Seven officials from the NIA headed by inspector S Vignesh, investigating officer of the case, arrived on Saturday. Two inspectors, four sub-inspectors, and eight other State police personnel, who were part of the special team, would assist the NIA investigating officer in the case.
BJP calls off Kovai bandh
BJP has postponed the bandh planned in Coimbatore on Monday. “Traders have requested BJP president K Annamalai to call off the strike and based on his instruction we are temporarily postponing it,” Coimbatore district BJP chief Balaji said on Saturday