Kovai terror: Mubeen told wife suspicious boxes had clothes in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: A little past midnight on October 23 (Sunday), at 12.08am to be exact, Nasrath, 24, sent a message to her husband Mubeen: "When will you come?" He replied, "Will call tomorrow." A minute later, Nasrath messaged again, asking if she could make a video call as their younger daughter was crying and asking for him. She got no reply. That was the last Nasrath spoke to Jamesha Mubeen, 29, before he was killed in a car explosion in front of the Sangameswarar temple in Coimbatore at 4am on October 23, a day before Diwali.
In an exclusive interaction with TOI at her parents' house on Thursday, Nasrath said she had spotted a couple of sealed boxes in the loft of the recently rented house in Kottaimedu, a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood. "When I asked about them, he said they were old clothes," she said. The family now suspects that they may have contained some explosive chemical mixtures.
Nasrath, who has hearing and speech disability, communicated with the help of her sister Nilofer Nisha. She said she had no clue of her husband's plans. After he quit his job as salesman in an old books shop, Mubeen worked in a honey shop, a perfume shop and finally, he told his wife, in a 'naatu marunthu kadai' (traditional medicine shop). Mubeen was an introvert, rarely mingling with even his close relatives.
He fell out with his mother and the rest of the family about four years ago, said his wife. Nilofer said Mubeen had been keen to marry a woman with a disability and was brought to them by a common friend. Sitting in the sparsely furnished home, her two daughters, aged two and four, have no clue what happened to their father.
On October 20, Nasrath left her husband's apartment, complaining of stomach-ache, and stayed at her parents' place at Al Ameen Colony, 4km awat. She never went back. The next day, a Friday, a day when Mubeen normally takes off from work, he visited his family, and had lunch with them.
"In the evening, he took them out and bought ice cream for the children, dropped them back home and left," said Nilofar. He was always on his mobile phone but did not own a laptop, said Nasrath, who lip reads and struggles to speak. He read the Quran all the time, she said.
"He underwent surgery in both eyes and complained he had chest pain and cited it as a reason for quitting the job in the book shop. A mechanical engineering graduate, he worked in a firm in Bengaluru before his marriage. He said he went through some depression then," said Nilofar.
One of his brothers-in-law, while speaking to TOI, was dismissive, saying, "We had no faith in him".
Nasrath said Mubeen bought a drum three days before the incident, saying he needed it to store water. Around 4pm on October 23, police brought a photograph of his burnt body. On Monday, with the Jamaats refusing to help with the funeral, Nasrath's family conducted the last rite.