Hindus of Coimbatore were saved from what could have been a suicide bomb attack on Deepavali day. A Muslim man with connections to ISIS, Al Ummah, and other terror networks was charred to death as an improvised explosive device created using 2 gas cylinders accidentally went live. Links to convicts of the 1998 bomb blast have also been unearthed. However, the DMK government in Tamil Nadu has been trying to suppress the truth, and the media is aiding it by calling it a “cylinder accident”.
In the wee hours of October 23, the day before Deepavali, a fire accident was reported from a communally sensitive area in Coimbatore. Two cylinders had burst in front of the Kottai Sangameshwarar temple on Town Hall road in Ukkadam. It is one of the busiest areas in the city, with people thronging it on the occasion of Deepavali. The cylinders burst around 4 am and Jamesha Mubeen, who was driving the car in which the cylinders were loaded, died in the explosion.
Since the incident was reported, the media and police have been calling it a cylinder accident, while all available details point to it being a planned act of terror. Mubin had planned to make the cylinders burst in front of Koniamman or Kottai Eswaran temple on the day of Deepavali when the devotees’ number was at its peak. Reports say he had to slow down his vehicle upon seeing a police check post and tried to get away. But it is suspected that the improvised bomb could have gone live due to a circuit error.
While people who were at the spot and saw the car go up in flames said that they saw nails, marbles and sharp objects around the blast area, police didn’t reveal such details initially. Even after questions about whether it could have been a planned act of terror, DGP Sylendra Babu denied it and only said that “a cache of explosive materials including potassium nitrate, aluminum powder, sulfur and charcoal from the residence of Mubin, an engineering graduate.”
He further said that Mubeen didn’t have any criminal record like his friends in the city. But later, it was revealed that he was investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2019. An India Today reporter saw similarities between the attempted bomb blast in Coimbatore and Easter bombings in Srilanka. He pointed out that there are reports showing that Mubeen was radicalised by the Islamic State ideology and tried to set off a bomb in the past. He was not arrested or charged due to lack of evidence back then but has been on TN police’s watchlist ever since the incident.
The ISIS Link
Mubeen’s links with Mohammed Azharuddin who is locked up in a prison in Kerala for his association with ISIS. Mubin was a close associate of Azharuddin and NIA had investigated the former based on this. Azharuddin was one of the people who were in contact with the Easter bombings master mind Zahran Hashim. Azharuddin ran a Facebook page named “KhilafahGFX” of which Riyas Aboobacker @ Abu Dujana was also a part. Abu Dujana, a Palakkad resident and follower of Zahran Hashim and Zakir Naik was arrested by NIA for planning suicide attacks in Kerala. Mubin had reportedly met him in the prison.
Azharuddin‘s social media groups were sharing radicalising content of the ISIS ideology. They were also actively recruiting youngsters for ISIS to carry out terror attacks in Southern states. As a Tamil speaking Muslim from Srilanka Zahran Hashim had great influence on Muslims of the Southern states. NIA busted an IS module in Coimbatore in 2019 which was influenced by the preaching of Zahran Hashim and was planning attacks on Hindu activists. NIA probe revealed that they had “conducted preparations, including reconnaissance of targets, for launching such attacks“.
It appears that Jamesha Mubin had planned one such attack on the day of Deepavali which went awry. Mubin worked in a second-hand book shop and started selling second hand clothes at a roadside shop later. He has a wife and 2 girl children and moved to his residence at Ukkadam only a month ago. KottaiMedu area in Ukkadam is a Muslim majority and communally charged area. A small incident of a cop stopping a Muslim for a traffic violation led to riots in this area.
Police and media maintained a conspicuous silence until TN BJP President and ex-IPS K Annamalai took them to the cleaners for trying to hide details and play down the incident. Even after Mubin’s ISIS links emerged media and police failed to acknowledge the incident as an act of terror. CM MK Stalin, despite the fact that it happened just a day before Deepavali in a commercially busy area, didn’t assure people or condemn the incident. Annamalai had called out this callous behaviour and sought police and the government to stop calling it a “cylinder blast” when ample evidence is there to show that it was a terror act.
He was the first to call it a suicide bomb attack and revealed more information on Mubin’s connection with ISIS. In a press meeting he revealed that Mubin had posted a message on WhatsApp along the lines of ISIS members. “If the news about my death reaches you, forgive my mistake, hide my shortcomings, participate in my janaza and pray for me”, the message read. He also accused the police department of hiding details of the arrest and criticised them for not even revealing under which sections they were arrested.
Mohammad Talkha, Mohammad Azharuddin, Mohammad Riyaz, Firose Ismail and Mohammed Nawaz Ismail were apprehended by the police after CCTV footage of a few of them helping Mubin load something into the car was discovered. The media statement released by Coimbatore police regarding the arrests said, “Jamesha Mubin(29), s/o Abdul Kader died in a cylinder blast near Kottai Sangameshwarar temple in Ukkadam, Coimbatore at 4 AM on 23.10.2022. A case has been filed in the B4 police station and the following have been arrested in this regard” and gives out the names.
It is to be noted that police continued to call it an accident even after terror links emerged and didn’t divulge the details of the sections under which the 5 persons were arrested. Annamalai pointed this out and questioned why TN police who file multiple sections on BJP cadres for social media posts and issue a 5-page media statement elaborating the case, hide details of the incident and the arrested. He also questioned why the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act(UAPA) was not used on them.
Al Ummah and 1998 bomb blast
Following his press meet, Coimbatore city Police Commissioner met the media and elaborated on the case and said that arrested persons have been booked under UAPA as well. Now, police have found links to the banned terror organisation Al Ummah as well. Mohammad Thalka, one of the five arrested is the son of Nawab Khan who was convicted in the 1998 bomb blast case. He is the brother of Syed Ahmed Basha, the founder of Al Ummah. Both Nawab Khan and Basha are in prison serving life sentences. They have managed to find allies in politicians and have gotten multiple paroles granted.
In 2021, Basha’s daughter Mubeena filed a petition in the Madras High Court seeking to release him on the ground of humanity as he has served 22 years in prison. Following this, Vanni Arasu, the spokesperson of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Party(VCK), an ally of DMK, demanded that CM Stalin release Basha on the grounds of humanity.
It has been 3 days since the incident and CM MK Stalin still hasn’t spoken about it. Coimbatore, which forms a part of the Kongu region, usually boycotts DMK due to its communal politics. The city faced a terrorist onslaught in the 1990s when DMK was in power. In 1998, serial bomb blasts rocked the city as revenge for the riots which were caused by the killing of a Hindu constable.
Since then, Hindu organisations have grown in the city, which has been an eyesore to anti-Hindu organisations and political parties. The current bomb blast and the government’s reaction to it make one wonder whether Coimbatore people are being neglected for boycotting DMK. As if the prevailing disastrous law and order situation is not enough, the DMK government has also failed in intelligence gathering and averting a terror attack. Trying to hide the terror links of the incident appears to be an attempt to hide the incompetence of DMK, which will only further embolden the terror elements. As per latest reports the DMK government has referred the case to NIA.
