Coimbatore Car Blast: Annamalai Slams DMK, Says Case Shows Major 'State Intelligence Failure'

Tamil Nadu BJP state President K Annamalai in a press conference held today said that the Coimbatore car blast case should be treated as a case of ‘suicide bombing’ due to the nature of evidence found from the site of explosion as well as the residence of Jameesha Mubeen who was driving the car.

The Tamil Nadu police found the LPG cylinder to be stuffed with iron pellets and sharp metal items in order to cause more damage and injuries. Subsequent searches at Mubeen’s house led to the seizure of explosive materials like potassium nitrate, sulphur, aluminium powder and charcoal.

Annamalai said that few days back Mubeen had put up a WhatsApp status which roughly translates to, “You know the news of my death, please forgive my mistakes, forget my crimes, attend my funeral, pray for me.”, which is known to be used by ISIS suicide bombers.

He said that the attitude of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government is baffling as their initial reaction was that this blast could have been an accident.

He also slammed the Chief Minister MK Stalin, who happens to be the Home Minister for what seems to be a major failure of the Tamil Nadu police and its Intelligence Department as Mubeen was already on a list of suspected terrorists.

Mubeen had been questioned by the NIA in 2019 for links to ISIS.

He wondered why the Tamil Nadu police was not revealing the information on the amount of explosives seized. According to Annamalai, the police had recovered 50 kg of ammonium nitrate, potassium, sodium, fuse wire and 7-volt batteries from Mubin's residence.

Regarding the arrest of five people in connection with the case, he said that the police was fooling the people as they had not revealed what sections of the penal code were applied against them.

Initial probes have found that Mubeen was linked to Mohammed Azharuddin who is in a Kerala jail for propagating ISIS ideology through a Facebook page, KhilafahGFX and that both of them followed Zahran Hashim, the Sri Lankan suicide bomber who carried out the Easter Day blasts in 2019.

He said that the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP had written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah requesting him to get the case transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) given the serious nature of the case.

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