A 25-year-old man died on October 22 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, after an LPG cylinder in a vehicle exploded in the communally sensitive Kottaimedu region. A Jamesha Mubin of Kottaipudur, near GM Nagar in Ukkadam, has been identified as the deceased.
The blast caused the vehicle, a Maruti 800 hatchback to shatter into pieces. Another unexploded LPG cylinder, steel balls, glass pebbles, and aluminium and iron nails were also recovered from the spot by police.
Following the incident, Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party president K Annamalaiasserted that it was not an accident, but rather a planned terror attack with ties to the Islamic State. He said that the DMK-led government in Tamil Nadu is withholding information about the incident.
“Coimbatore Cylinder blast is no more a ‘cylinder blast’. It’s a clear-cut terror act with ISIS links. Will @CMOTamilnadu come out in the open & accept this? TN Govt is hiding this info for 12 hours now. Is this not a clear failure of the state intelligence machinery & DMK Govt?” Annamalai tweeted.
“The accused who died during the course of planning this attack had clear-cut links to ISIS & was handled from outside the country. Still, some of the elements are active in TN soil. Go mercilessly after these nodes. @CMOTamilnadu, pls come out of your hiding and own your failure,” he further added in a subsequent tweet.
Meanwhile, DGP Sylendra Babu, ADGP Thamarai Kannan, Intelligence IG Senthil Velan, and Special Investigation Division SP Stephen Jesupatham hurried from Chennai to Coimbatore to examine the situation. According to the Tamil Nadu DGP, the man who was killed in the fire has been identified as Jamesha Mubin. He further stated that police searched Mubin’s home in the Kottaimedu neighbourhood of Ukkadam and seized chemicals such as potassium nitrate, aluminium, and sulphur, all of which are used to construct primitive bombs.
“He is not affiliated with any organisation. There is no case against the deceased person, but he has links with a few people under NIA’s radar. We have identified the source of the cylinders and the car. This could not be a suicide attack. The explosion happened when the nails and ball bearing were in the car. Chemicals were in his home. We are going through his call history and contacting the people who were in touch with him,” the DGP further added.
“We have traced him within 12 hours of the incident. It is suspected that Jamesha was on his way to some other place in the car with materials used for making explosives. To evade police checks, he must have parked the vehicle in front of the temple where the blast occurred. We don’t know the full details of his plan. Further probe is on,” Sylendra Babu said.
“In 2019, the National Investigation Agency conducted searches at his house. We are investigating his background, links, and possible association with any organisation,” the DGP concluded.
There are some reports saying that Mubin had tried to run away after noticing the police check post, and had intentionally parked near the temple.
Jamesha Mubin used to work in his father’s scrap store in the city’s Town Hall district. Police have filed complaints under Sections 174 of the IPC and 3A of the Explosive Substances Act, and an investigation has commenced.
