New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday carried out raids at 40 locations in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka in connection with two blasts in Coimbatore and Mangaluru in October and November last year, respectively, people familiar with the development said.
The anti-terror agency is probing into the two cases to find a common link.
NIA is investigating whether Jameesha Mubeen, an active member of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and bomber in the October 23 car bomb blast in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore city, and Mohammed Shariq, main suspect in the November 19 blast in an auto-rickshaw in Karnataka’s Mangaluru, were in touch with same handlers in messaging app groups where other radical elements interacted and plotted attacks, people cited above said.
“We are not definitely saying yet that there is a link between the two blasts,” said an officer, declining to be named.
In the Coimbatore blast, which took place in front of Kottai Eswaran Temple, main bomber Jamesha Mubeen had taken “Bayath” (allegiance) to the ISIS as he was planning to carry out a suicide attack and cause extensive damage to the temple complex with the intention to strike terror among a section of the society, an NIA spokesperson said.
The agency has so far arrested six suspects in this case.
The second case pertains to a pressure cooker bomb blast that took place in a moving auto-rickshaw in Mangaluru city on November 19 last year. The blast occurred when the accused was carrying the improvised explosive device for planting it in a public place. The agency has claimed that Mohammad Shariq, who was carrying the explosive, had travelled to Tamil Nadu and Kerala before the blast.
Of the 40 places raided on Wednesday, 32 were in connection with the Coimbatore blast while eight were related to the Mangaluru blast. The searches led to the seizure of a large number of digital devices and ₹4 lakh in cash, said the spokesperson, adding that further investigations in the two cases are on.
NIA’s probe in Coimbatore blast has revealed that accused persons had held conspiracy meetings in the interior regions of Asanoor and Kadambur areas of Sathyamangalam forest in Tamil Nadu’s Erode district in February 2022. In these meetings, led by previously arrested accused Umar Farooq, participants Mubeen (who died in the October 23 blast), Mohammed Azharuddin, Sheikh Hidayatullah and Sanofar Ali conspired to prepare for and execute terror acts.
HT has earlier reported that Mubeen was questioned by NIA in 2019 as well for his alleged terror links.
Azharuddin headed an ISIS module in Coimbatore module in 2018-19. The members of this module were, in fact, in touch with the April 21, 2019 Sri Lanka bombings mastermind, Maulvi Zahran bin Hashim, and were planning to carry out similar strikes in Kerala and Tamil Nadu at that time. Hashim and another Sri Lanka bomber — Mohammad Azaan — even travelled to India in 2017 and 2018 to discuss plans of Islamic State. Indian agencies, based on the NIA probe into Coimbatore module, had sent three alerts to Sri Lankan security agencies about a plan to carry out a major strike there.