Anti Terror Agency Files Fresh Chargesheet Against 2 In Coimbatore Car Blast Case

The NIA on Wednesday filed a fresh charge sheet and named two more accused in the ISIS-inspired Coimbatore car bomb blast case of 2022, an agency spokesperson said.

Mohammed Azarudeen alias Azar and Mohammed Idris, both residents of Coimbatore, have been named in the supplementary charge sheet and have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Explosive Substances Act, the spokesperson said.

With this, a total of 13 people have been charge-sheeted in this case till now. The rest were named in the prosecution complaints filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in April and June last year.

The probe pertains to an explosion that took place in front of the ancient Arulmigu Kottai Sangameshwarar Thirukovil Temple at Eswaran Kovil Street in Ukkadam, Coimbatore on October 23, 2022, through a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), allegedly driven by one Jamesha Mubeen.

Mubeen was "inspired" by hardcore ISIS ideology to commit this act of terror.

The NIA probe found, the spokesperson said, that Mubeen, along with Mohammed Azarudeen, Umar Faaruq, Sheikh Hidayathullah and Sanofer Ali, conspired to carry out a series of suicidal terror attacks in Coimbatore city following a conspiracy hatched in the forested area of Sathyamangalam region in Erode district of Tamil Nadu.

The attack was intended to wreak vengeance on 'kafirs' (non-believers), as stated in one of the self-made confessional videos by the accused a few days before the attack, the spokesperson said.

Azarudeen, who acted as a pedagogue to the module involved in the attack, was earlier arrested by the NIA in another case related to the indoctrination of ISIS ideology and in connection with the NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama'ath) module of Sri Lanka, which was responsible for the 2019 Easter blast attacks in the island country.

"Azarudeen had motivated three other accused who met him in the high-security prison (HSP) Viyyur. This led to the subsequent Sathyamangalam Conspiracy meeting, resulting in the planning and preparation of the instant terror attack," the spokesperson added.

Accused Umar Faaruq was elected as the "Amir" to lead the execution.

Mohammed Idris, part of the module of Azarudeen and radicalised in the ISIS and by the 'bayans' (statements) of accused Zahran Hashim, was tasked with purchasing a used vehicle for the blast and to assisting the main accused in the attack, he said.

"The larger aim of the conspiracy was to create terror in the minds of a section of the society by targeting its various branches like general administration, police, judiciary," the spokesperson said.

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