The three men, including an Arabic teacher, were arrested from Sundarapuram and Selvapuram areas. They were taken to Chennai for further investigation.
Published Oct 22, 2024 | 1:37 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 22, 2024 | 3:28 PM
The blast took place near the ancient Arulmigu Kottai Sangameshwarar Thirukovil Temple at Eswaran Kovil Street in Ukkadam, Coimbatore on 23 October 2022.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested three more people in connection with the Coimbatore car bomb blast, taking the number of arrests to 18.
The central anti-terror probe agency has also found how the 23 October 2022 ISIS-inspired car blast was funded.
“With the arrest of Aboo Hanifa, Saran Mariappan, and Pavan Rahman, NIA has unearthed the terror financing angle in the case, in which the total number of accused arrested has gone up to 18,” the agency said in a media statement on Monday, 21 October.
Four chargesheets have been filed against 14 accused before the NIA court at Poonamalee in Chennai.
Hanifa, a teacher at Kovai Arabic College, Mariappan, and Rahman, have been accused of providing financial assistance to Jamish Mubeen, who was killed when the vehicle-borne improvised explosive device went off near an ancient temple, the Arulmighu Akilandeswari Udanaaya Arulmighu Sangameshwarar Swami Thirukovil, on Eswaran Kovil Street in Coimbatore’s Ukkadam, a communally sensitive area.
The three men were picked up from the Sundarapuram and Selvapuram areas and were whisked away to Chennai for further investigation.
Mubeen was inspired by the ideology of the global terrorist organisation, ISIS. The conspiracy to carry out the explosion was reportedly hatched in Sathyamangalam forests in the Erode district.
NIA earlier said that before carrying out the attack Mubeen had sworn allegiance by giving “bayath” (a solemn promise) to Abu-Al-Hasan Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi, the then self-styled Calipha of the IS.
Incidentally, the explosion a day before Deepavali in 2022 was considered to be a gas cylinder explosion. However, it developed into an act of terror after the police found 75 kg of explosives in Mubeen’s house.
The NIA said Hanifa, Mariappan, and Rahman “had colluded with one other to provide funds for the funds for the commission of the terror act. Aboo Hanifa was employed as a faculty om Kovai Arabic College, where Jamesha Mubeen and other arrested accused persons got radicalised in ISIS ideology.”
The agency is further probing the case.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
