TN police intensify investigation into Coimbatore car blast

The Tamil Nadu police on Monday intensified their investigation into the car explosion incident in the city, even as CCTV footage showed a group of men carrying a gunny bag from the house of Jemisha Mubeen, who was killed in the blast. State Director General of Police C Sylendra Babu had on Sunday said that "low-intensive" explosive material including potassium nitrate, used in making country bombs, were recovered from the house of Mubeen.

CCTV footage near the house showed five people purportedly taking out a gunny bag from Mubeen's house around 11.25 pm on Saturday, police said.

The cylinder explosion in the car happened near Kottai Eswaran Temple in the busy and communally sensitive Ukkadam area around 4 am on Sunday, they said.


While one of the five could be Mubeen, investigation is on to identify the remaining members, police added.

Police are also questioning seven people in this connection, based on the contact they made with Mubeen.

An auto-rickshaw driver from Coonoor in nearby Nilgiris district was brought for interrogation, tracing his mobile phone signal at the place of explosion. A resident of Ottupattarai in Coonoor, he was residing there for the last four months, police said.

Mubeen was charred to death when a gas cylinder in the car in which he was travelling exploded on Sunday. Nails, marbles and some other items were found in the vehicle, the DGP had earlier said.

Meanwhile, AIADMK interim general secretary and Tamil Nadu Leader of Opposition K Palaniswami called for an independent probe into the matter, to ascertain if the incident was an accident or a conspiracy.

Training his guns against chief minister MK Stalin, who holds Home portfolio, Palaniswami asked what did the former have to say about the explosion.

"Whenever the DMK assumes power in Tamil Nadu, instances of bomb blasts become routine and recurring," he alleged in a statement and claimed the incident exposed the lack of proper functioning of the police and Intelligence department.

The police should probe the matter without any political pressure to ascertain if it was an accident or a conspiracy and whether there were any anti-social elements involved in it, he demanded.