The suicide bomber in October 2022 Coimbatore blast, Jameesha Mubeen, and two of his relatives had purchased 190 kg of explosive material — both through e-commerce websites and offline — to make a potent Improvised Explosive Device (IED) for the attack, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has said in its charge sheet.
Mubeen and his maternal cousins, Mohammad Asarutheen and Afsar Khan, had also procured unknown quantities of charcoal, aluminium powder, matchboxes, and chemical benzaldehyde dimethyl acetal, besides four cylinders and three drums for making the bomb, said the charge sheet filed on April 20.
On October 23 last year, a vehicle carrying improvised explosive device (IED) and being driven by Mubeen exploded outside the Kottai Eswaran Temple in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore city. Mubeen was killed in the blast.
According to the NIA charge sheet, Mubeen and his cousins started procuring raw material for IED in March last year, soon after it was decided during conspiracy meetings held in interiors of Sathyamangalam forest in Erode district in February that Kottai Eswaran temple would be targeted.
The purchases were made in small quantities, ranging from 2 kg to 30 kg, through e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, and an online fertiliser supplier as well as local dealers.
“…Jameesha Mubeen, Asarutheen and Afsar Khan purchased a total of 134 kg of potassium nitrate, 56 kg of sulphur, three drums and four cylinders (of which two were recovered from his home). Besides, unknown quantities of charcoal, aluminium powder, matchboxes and benzaldehyde dimethyl acetal were sourced locally,” the charge sheet, seen by HT, said.
Asarutheen and Afsar, according to the federal anti-terror probe agency, had also “weighed, mixed and packed the chemical constituents used to manufacture the vehicle-borne IED used in the attack”. Other conspirators in the case include Mohammed Thalha, Firos, Mohammed Riyas, Navas, Mohammed Azharuddin, Sheikh Hidayatullah, Umar Farooq and Sanofar Ali.
After the blast, the charge sheet said, some of the accused persons had used “iShredder” — a military grade security data shredder which securely deletes data leaving it irrecoverable — on their devices.
At the time of the attack, Mubeen’s WhatsApp display photo was a text that said, “When you receive the news of my death. Forgive my mistakes. Mask my shortcomings. Do attend my Janaza (funeral). Keep me in your prayers”.
The charge sheet further stated that NIA found three self-confession videos from Mubeen’s devices. The agency also recovered handwritten notes from his residence “which revealed his critical views on democratic system” and “targets including government buildings, district court, parks, railway stations etc.”
Terrorist organisation Islamic State (IS) had claimed responsibility for the blast through its mouthpiece “Voice of Khorasan”, saying it was carried out as a “revenge” to uphold the “honour” of their religion.
NIA has till date arrested around 175 people in close to 40 cases of terror attacks, conspiracy and funding which have been inspired by the IS ideology in the country. The charge sheets have been filed in over 32 cases linked to the IS.
The agency has also prepared a databank on IS modules busted so far with detailed analysis on handlers, funding, modus operandi, countries visited, and ideologues.