BJP's Annamalai says Stalin govt had got central intel of Coimbatore blast, didn't act

The Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President K Annamalai on October 27 posed two questions to the DMK government in connection with the Coimbatore blast that occurred on Sunday, October 23.

The explosion took place when deceased Jamesha Mubin was moving past a temple in a car loaded with two gas cylinders and he had allegedly tried to evade a police checkpost. Later, 75 kg of explosives were recovered from his residence.

Annamalai said that there was a specific threat alert given by the central intelligence agencies to the Tamil Nadu government five days before the "suicide bombing". "Why was the state government caught napping?" he asked.

The BJP leader said that the state intelligence and Coimbatore police were asked to monitor the activities of Mubin after the NIA's enquiry in 2019. The local police were initially monitoring him but stopped after a while, he stated.

"Why was it stopped after DMK came to power? Is it because of political pressure not to monitor ‘certain’ individuals? Will our CM care to answer, or as usual, will he be in 'silent mode'?" Annamalai asked.

Notably, Mubin was under the National Investigation Agency's radar in 2019 in the aftermath of the Sri Lanka Easter bomb blasts, but no case was filed against him, police said.

Coimbatore blast probe handed over to NIA

The Union government on October 27 handed over the Coimbatore car blast probe to NIA after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin's recommendation.

"The Union Home Ministry decided to hand over the Coimbatore blast case to the NIA," an official said.

The DMK government said that the decision to recommend the investigation handover to the NIA was taken as there is the involvement of factors "extraneous to the state" and "possible international links".

So far, six people have been arrested who had been in contact with Mubin, and charged them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Image: PTI, Republic World