Chennai: Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party president K Annamalai on Thursday asked a couple of questions to Chief Minister MK Stalin in connection with the Coimbatore “suicide bombing” incident, and asked if he will remain in “silent mode”.
The incident took place on October 23 when an LPG cylinder inside a Maruti 800, Jameesha Mubin, the person who was charred to death, exploded near a temple around 4 am. Six persons have been arrested so far in connection with the case.
Questioning Stalin over the incident, Annamalai asked why was the state government “caught napping” when there was a “specific threat alert” flagged by the central agencies five days ahead of the blast.
“Two questions for @CMOTamilnadu 1. There was a specific threat alert given by central intelligence agencies to TN Govt on Oct 18th, 2022. This is five days before the ‘suicide bombing’ incident. Why was the state govt caught napping?” the BJP state chief tweeted.
The BJP leader further asked the reason behind stopping the monitoring of the activities of Mubin who he called a “suicide bomber”, as against the instructions to monitor his activities (after NIA’s Enquiry in 2019).
“When the TN state intelligence and Coimbatore police were asked to monitor the activities of the ‘suicide bomber’ & now deceased Mubin (after NIA’s Enquiry in 2019) and which the local police were doing initially but stopped after a while. Why was it stopped after DMK came to power?” he tweeted.
He asked if it was done “because of political pressure”.
“Is it because of political pressure not to monitor ‘certain’ individuals? Will our CM care to answer, or as usual, will he be in ‘silent mode’?” Annamalai tweeted.
Meanwhile, CM Stalin recommended an NIA probe into the incident following which the Centre ordered the NIA investigation. The agency registered an FIR into the case today.
Earlier today, Telangana Director general of police Sylendra Babu said that NIA will take over the case.
“As soon as it happened, officers rushed to the place & doused the fire. We identified the deceased and within a few days we were able to unearth the truth. 6 people have been arrested & taken into custody. CM has recommended the case to NIA,” he said.
“Based on the orders of MHA, officers of NIA will work out the moralities. NIA has already registered a case and will take over. This has been discussed with the Commissioner as well,” the DGP added.
However, the officer refused to comment on the allegations levelled by Annamalai.
Tamil Nadu Police so far has arrested six people in connection with the case, and have invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
As per police Mubin, 25, who was an engineering graduate, has been previously questioned by the NIA in 2019 for alleged terror links. His name is mentioned as the primary accused in the case.
Five people arrested on Monday night were Mohammad Thalka, 25, Mohammad Asarudheen, 25, Muhammad Riyaz, 27, Feroz Ismail, 27, and Mohammad Navaz Ismail, 27. However, the sixth person, identified as Afsar Khan, a relative of the deceased, was arrested earlier on Thursday. Khan is the cousin of the deceased. He was picked two days before by the special investigation team. On Wednesday noon, Police officials also conducted searches on Khan’s residence and took his laptop.
Since the explosion occurred in Ukkadam, a communally sensitive area, the state’s top police officers, including Director General of Police (DGP) Sylendra Babu and Additional DGP (law and order) Thamarai Kannan, rushed to the spot.
The DGP on Sunday said the police found materials used to make explosives in Mubin’s house in Ukkadam. They seized 75 kgs of potassium nitrate, charcoal, aluminium powder and sulphur which can be used to make explosives. (ANI)
