Five held in Tamil Nadu blast case, cops find explosives

COIMBATORE: Coimbatore police arrested five people after a 29-year-old man was killed in a car explosion in front of a temple in the city on Sunday. While cops said the blast was possibly triggered by an LPG cylinder, a search at the residence of the deceased, led to the detection of a huge quantum of explosives.
The Tamil Nadu police on Monday intensified its investigation into the car explosion incident in the city, even as CCTV footage showed a group of men carrying a gunny bag from the house of Jameesha Mubeen, who was killed in the blast.
DGP C Sylendra Babu had on Sunday said that "low-intensive" explosive material, including potassium nitrate, used in making country bombs, were recovered from the house of Mubeen.
CCTV footage near the house showed five people purportedly taking out a gunny bag from Mubeen's house around 11.25pm on Saturday, police said. While one of the five could be Mubeen, probe is on to identify the remaining members, cops added.
Police are also questioning seven people in this connection, based on the contact they made with Mubeen. An auto-rickshaw driver from Coonoor in nearby Nilgiris district was brought to Coimbatore for interrogation, tracing his mobile phone signal to the place of explosion.
A resident of Ottupattarai in Coonoor, he was residing there for the last four months, police said.
The cylinder explosion in the car happened near Kottai Eswaran Temple in the busy and communally sensitive Ukkadam area around 4am on Sunday.
Mubeen was charred to death in the explosion. Nails, marbles and some other items were found in the vehicle, cops had earlier said.
Meanwhile, AIADMK interim general secretary and Tamil Nadu Leader of Opposition K Palaniswami called for an independent probe into the matter, to ascertain if the incident was an accident or a conspiracy.
Training his guns against chief minister M K Stalin, who holds the Home portfolio in the state, Palaniswami asked what did the former have to say about the explosion.
"Whenever the DMK assumes power in Tamil Nadu, instances of bomb blasts become routine and recurring," the AIADMK leader alleged in a statement and claimed the incident exposed the lack of proper functioning of the police and Intelligence department.
"The police should probe the matter without any political pressure to ascertain if it was an accident or a conspiracy and whether there were any anti-social elements involved," he demanded.