COIMBATORE: Coimbatore city police arrested five people on Tuesday after a 29-year-old man was killed in a car explosion in front of a Sangameswarar temple at Kottaimedu, a communally sensitive area, on Sunday. The cops have also invoked the provisions of the UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act) against these five men.
A Jameesha Mubin (29) was charred to death in the explosion near the temple.
Nails, bearing balls, glass pebbles, and an unexploded LPG cylinder alongside other items were found in the vehicle.
Police sources said that Mubin was a self-radicalized man and that he was quizzed by the NIA in 2019 over suspicion that he was a sympathizer of ISIS. But no cases were filed against him. PTI reported that one of the five men arrested -- Mohammed Azharuddin --- is an accused in the Easter Sunday bomb blasts in a Sri Lankan Church in 2019, which killed over 250 people.
Mubin, an engineering graduate, was assisting his father in his scrap business along with other projects. During the search at his house, police sources said they seized some written materials related to the making of explosives.
While the police have said an LPG cylinder possibly triggered the blast, a search at the residence of the deceased led to the detection of a huge cache of low-intensive explosive substances such as potassium nitrate, aluminium powder, sulphur, and charcoal.
DGP C Sylendra Babu on Sunday said that "low-intensive" explosive material was recovered from the house of Mubin. Going by the materials seized from his house, this could have been meant for possible attacks in the future, the DGP added.
Coimbatore city police registered a case under sections 174 CrPC (unnatural death) and section 3(a) of the Explosive Substances Act and will be conducting further investigations.
Following the discovery of Mubin's identity, the police on Monday intensified the investigation into the case as the deceased had been in contact with a few people.
CCTV footage near the house showed five people purportedly taking out a gunny bag from Mubin’s house at HMPR at Kottaimedu around 11.25 pm on Saturday, police said.
Based on their investigation, police on Monday detained five persons namely – Mohammad Dhalha (25) Mohammad Riyaz (27), Feroz Ismail (27) and Mohammad Navas Ismail from GM Nagar, Mohammad Azarudheen (23) from Ukkadam. They were arrested Monday night and will be remanded in custody on Tuesday, said police.
According to police, Azarudheen was a cousin of Mubin and he had charted the travel plan for Mubin.
Mohammad Dhalha had arranged the car. The three others --- Riyaz, Feroz and Navas who were found in the CCTV footage --- had allegedly helped Mubin to load the materials into the car.
The arrested people denied the charges and told police that they had helped Mubin as he was shifting his residence. "But there is no chance (of their claim being true) because the deceased Mubin was residing on the third floor of the rental building and the smell of explosive substances there was overwhelming when we had gone searching. They should know which items were being loaded in the car," said a senior police officer.
Moreover, when shifting houses, moving the LPG cylinders and such explosives first is not very common, the officer added.
Further investigation is underway as to where the accused bought these explosive substances, under whose direction they were trying to relocate them, and where they were planning to take them.