Coimbatore car blast: Sixth suspect who allegedly procured explosive substances online, arrested

COIMBATORE: After four days of investigation into the car blast incident that took place in front of  Sangameshwarar Temple at Kottaimedu in the city on October 23, Police arrested a sixth suspect in connection with the blast on Thursday. He was detained on Wednesday and following the investigation, the police seized a laptop from him and arrested him on Thursday early morning. 

The arrested was identified as K Afsar Khan (28) an electrician from Kottaimedu near Ukkadam. He was living with his family, wife and two children, in the housing unit backside of the Ukkadam police station. He was a cousin (son of mom's sister) to Jamesha Mubin who was killed in the car blast on Sunday during the attempt of transporting the explosives in a car from Kottaimedu.

Police suspect that Afsar had a strong connection with the blast and allegedly had a conspiracy plot for around two years. He was an expert in electrical wiring works and had a role in purchasing explosive materials through e-commerce sites, parts of these procured explosives were allegedly used in the blast and the remaining explosive substances weighing around 76.5 kg were seized from Mubin's house. 

Police suspect that they might have procured large quantities of explosive materials over the last two years and are planning to conduct a massive raid on the belongings of all suspects and their relative's houses today. The search is planned at as many as 10 places in the city, according to the sources.

While the alleged self-minded radical thinker A Jameesha Mubin (29) was killed in the blast on October 23, five of his associates Muhammad Thalha (25), Muhammad Azharudheen (23), Muhammad Riyas (27), Firoz Ismail (27), and Muhammad Nawaz Ismail (27), were arrested on Tuesday under the provisions of UAPA Act and IPC sections as well. 

All five were brought into police custody for three days to conduct an investigation. The state government recommended the case to the NIA's investigation on Wednesday because it might have connections to countries outside of the state. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also begun preliminary investigating as well. Although it is anticipated that the case will officially be handed over to the NIA in one or two days, the Coimbatore city police have accelerated their investigation into the arrested persons based on the inputs gathered from the custodial interrogation and are attempting to identify the connections and conspiracy plan in the hopes that it may be useful to them in the future.