NIA can now take over the investigation from the Tamil Nadu police.
New Delhi:
Parts of the strict UAPA anti-terror law have been invoked in the car blast in Coimbatore after 75kg of explosive raw materials were seized from the accused’s home, including from 25-year-old Jameza Mubin who died in the blast, while searching operations in the past two days.
The Prevention of Unauthorized Activities Act is a criminal offense under the National Criminal Investigation Act (Wet op de Rijksrecherche). The investigation agency can now take over the investigation from the Tamil Nadu police.
State police on Sunday investigated terrorist links in the explosion of a gas cylinder in a car after large quantities of explosives were found in the victim’s home.
The blast, near a temple in Coimbatore, killed Jameza Mubin, who was questioned in 2019 by the central counter-terrorist office about alleged links to IS, police said.
The engineering graduate’s employees are being questioned and more arrests are likely, sources said.
Mubin was driving with two open cylinders and one of them exploded, police said. A search later in the day found “low-intensity explosive material”, including potassium nitrate, aluminum powder, charcoal and sulfur – used to make land bombs.
Those appeared to be intended for “future plans,” Tamil Nadu police chief C Sylendra Babu said on Sunday.
In addition, nails, marbles and other items were found in the car that exploded and are under investigation by the forensics department, the top officer said.