Kovai car blast: 'Docus, explosives seized from Mubin’s house'

CHENNAI: A total of 109 articles, including potassium nitrate, Nitro glycerin, red phosphorous, Sterile surgical blades, iron nails, switch were seized from the house of Jameesha Mubin, who died in the car blast in Coimbatore, according to the FIR filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), who have taken over investigations into the case from Tamil Nadu police.

NIA registered a case on Thursday. Around 4 am on October 23, a car driven by radicalised IS man, A Jamesha Mubeen had exploded in front of Kottai Sangameshwarar temple at Eswaran koil street in Ukkadam.

On searches at his house in Kottaimedu, police and investigating agencies found bomb-making materials. Apart from the chemicals, investigators have found black powder, match box, cracker fuse (about two metres), PETN (Pentaerythritol tetranitrate) powder, Aluminium powder, oxygen cylinder, glass marble, 9-volt battery, wire, iron nails, note books with details of Islamic ideology and details about Jihad etc.

According to officials, Mubeen, who was driving the explosive-laden car with gas cylinders in it, was a radicalised IS man and is believed to have been planning to execute the explosion either at Konniyamman Temple or Kotta Eswaran Temple.

He had tried to execute an explosion a few years ago, but the attempt was thwarted by Tamil Nadu police, said sources. He was an associate of Mohammed Azharuddin, now lodged in Kerala jail in connection with an IS case. The latter was a Facebook friend of Zahran Hashim, the alleged mastermind of 2019 Easter church bombing in Sri Lanka, said sources in a central security agency.