Coimbatore car blast case handed over to NIA

New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday decided to hand over to the NIA the probe into the recent blast near a temple in Coimbatore, officials said. The decision came after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin recommended an investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the Sunday blast in which an engineer was killed.

"The Union home ministry decided to hand over the Coimbatore blast case to the NIA," an official said.

The Tamil Nadu government said the decision to recommend the probe handover to the central anti-terror agency was taken as there is the involvement of factors "extraneous to the state" and "possible international links".

On Sunday, a car loaded with two gas cylinders exploded near a temple in Coimbatore. It was being driven by one Jameesha Mubin, a 29-year-old engineering graduate.

Mubin had attempted to get past a police check post near the temple, but fled after failing to do so, state police chief C Sylendra Babu told reporters on Monday.

Police have arrested five people who had been in contact with Mubin, and charged them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Mubin was under the NIA radar in 2019 in the aftermath of the Easter bomb blasts in Sri Lanka, but no case was filed against him, police said.

BJP trying to politicise Coimbatore car explosion: Tamil Nadu Minister

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister Senthil Balaji on Thursday accused the BJP of trying to blow out of proportion the car explosion in the city to take political advantage for the 2024 Parliamentary elections. Talking to reporters after reviewing the law and order situation with senior district and police officials, in the aftermath of the incident on October 23, the Minister clarified that there was no bomb inside the car and the explosion was due to a cylinder blast.

To prove his point, he said nails and marbles were strewn separately and cylinders were kept separately indicating that there was no bomb in the car.

Asked how BJP State president K Annamalai gave details of the incident even before the police could, the Minister said "he should be interrogated by the NIA in this regard." Is he involved and knew about the incident, he asked.

He said that by announcing a bandh on October 31, the BJP was trying to create unnecessary tension and fear among the citizens only to take political advantage for the 2024 Parliamentary elections.

The Electricity Minister asked how many leaders who were raising the explosion issue had reacted to the death of the first Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash in Coonoor in Nilgiris district last year.

On allegations by BJP leaders that Stalin was taking political revenge and neglecting Coimbatore, by not visiting the city after the explosion, he said the DMK government was giving special attention to the district and allotted more funds, including for road and airport expansion projects.

Stalin had visited Coimbatore five times in the last one and half years and had interactions with industrialists to solve their problems, he said.