NIA arrests 3 more in ISIS-inspired Coimbatore car bomb blast case

New Delhi [India], October 21 (ANI): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested three more accused on Monday in a case pertaining to the ISIS-inspired car bomb blast in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore in October 2022, the agency said.

As per the NIA, the total number of arrests in the case has gone up to 18 with the arrest of Aboo Hanifa, Saran Mariappan, and Pavas Rahman.

With the arrests, NIA has unearthed the terror financing angle in the case and four chargesheets have been so far filed against 14 accused before the NIA Court at Poonamallee, Chennai, the agency said.

The case is related to a vehicle-borne Improvised Explosives Device explosion near the ancient Arulmigu Kottai Sangameshwarar Thirukovil temple at Eswaran Kovil Street, Ukkadam, Coimbatore, on October 23, 2022. The terror attack was perpetrated by deceased Jamesha Mubeen, a self-styled ISIS operative, and suicide bomber, as an act of revenge against Kafirs or non-believers of Islam.

NIA investigations have revealed that the three accused arrested on Monday had colluded with one other to provide funds for the commission of the terror act. Accused Aboo Hanifa was employed as a faculty in Kovai Arabic College, where Jamesha Mubeen and other arrested accused persons got radicalized in ISIS ideology, the agency said.

“Prior to carrying out the Coimbatore terror attack, Jamesha Mubeen had sworn allegiance by giving “bayath” to Abu-Al-Hasan Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi, the then self-styled Calipha of ISIS,” the agency release mentioned.

An offshoot case registered with respect to the radicalization had separately led to the arrest and charge sheeting of four accused by the NIA.