Coimbatore car bombing case: Three more arrested for financing the act

CHENNAI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday arrested three more accused in the October 2022 ISIS-inspired Coimbatore car bomb blast case.

With the arrest of Aboo Hanifa, Saran Mariappan and Pavas Rahman, NIA has unearthed the terror financing module in the case.

The total number of accused arrested in the case has gone up to 18 and four chargesheets have been so far filed against 14 accused before the NIA Court at Poonamallee, Chennai.

The case related to a Vehicle Borne IED explosion near the Kottai Sangameshwarar temple at Eswaran Kovil Street, Ukkadam, Coimbatore, on 23 October 2022. It was perpetrated by now deceased accused Jamesha Mubeen, a self-styled ISIS operative and a suicide bomber, allegedly 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. Aboo Hanifa was employed as a faculty in Kovai Arabic College, where Jamesha Mubeen and other arrested accused persons got radicalised in ISIS ideology. 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.

An offshoot case registered with respect to the radicalisation had separately led to the arrest and charge sheeting of four accused by NIA. Further investigations are continuing in the case.