Tamil Nadu BJP Chief Starting False Propaganda In Car Blast Case: Cops

President of the Tamil Nadu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) K Annamalai is trying to divert the investigation into the car explosion that occurred in Coimbatore by issuing false statements, the Police Department said on Saturday.

Ahead of the completion of the probe, Mr Annamalai is making uncalled-for-comments on the police, a press release from the department said here.

"We appeal to not make such comments based on exaggerated reports and rumours...," the release said.

Maintaining that regular procedures were followed as per law while probing into such cases, the release said normally the local police, after registering a case, have to submit its report on the investigation to the State government.

"After receiving the report, the State government should inform the Centre. Based on the significance of the case, the Centre issues a directive which is 15 days for a NIA probe. This is as per the law," the release said.

Referring to Annamalai's comments that there was a delay in handing over the investigations to the National Investigation Agency, the police said the Union Home Ministry can issue orders on its own for NIA probe in high- profile cases.

However, in the Coimbatore incident, ahead of the Home Ministry issuing such a directive, Chief Minister M K Stalin recommended the NIA probe.

"Where was the delay? Even in some incidents that occurred in the past, the case has been handed over to the NIA after some months", the release said.

On the comments made by the Tamil Nadu BJP chief that the Home Ministry already issued a warning about the incident, the release said it was a common circular issued by the Ministry to States and Union Territories and did not mention anything about the explosion.

"He (Annamalai) is trying to start a false propaganda that the police department ignored the alert from the Home Ministry. There was no mention in the circular about the Coimbatore incident", the release said.

Meanwhile, Mr Annamalai said he would be issuing a response to the press release issued by the police.

"A point-by-point rebuttal will be given to the press statement of the Police Department soon. With the highest respect to the hardworking brothers and sisters of Tamil Nadu police, the DGP and ADGP (Intelligence) of our state police behave like an extension of the Arivalayam (headquarters of DMK) office," he alleged in a tweet.

On October 23, a total of 75 kg of explosives was seized from the house of 29-year-old Jameesha Mubeen who was killed after a gas cylinder exploded. The explosion happened while he was moving in a car past a temple in the textile city and he had allegedly tried to evade a police checkpost. Six people have been arrested in this connection so far.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)