Car blast case: second supplementary charge sheet filed against two accused

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday, 24 January, filed a fresh charge sheet and named two more accused in the IS-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 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 23 October, 2022, through a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), allegedly driven by one Jamesha Mubeen.

Mubeen was “inspired” by hardcore IS 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.