Coimbatore residents Sheikh Hidayathullah and Sanofar Ali were arrested after the ongoing probe pointed to their involvement in planning an attack near the Kottai Eswaran temple, the NIA said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday, December 28 arrested two more persons in connection with the car bomb explosion outside a temple in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore, taking the number of people held in the case to 11. Sheikh Hidayathullah and Sanofar Ali, both residents of Coimbatore, were arrested after the ongoing probe pointed to their involvement in the “criminal conspiracy” to carry out an attack near the Kottai Eswaran temple in Coimbatore, the NIA said.
According to reports, Sheikh Hidayathullah runs a dry fruit store in Coimbatore, while Sanofar Ali runs a vegetable business. Nine other accused persons have already been arrested in the case so far, and five of them have been taken into the custody of NIA for interrogation. The accused have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
“Investigations have revealed that the arrested persons (Hidayathullah and Ali) had entered into a criminal conspiracy in the interior of forested regions of Asanoor and Kadambur areas of Sathyamangalam forest in Erode district in February… The meetings were led by previously arrested accused Umar Farook… where they conspired to prepare for and execute terror acts,” the NIA said in its statement. The aim was to cause extensive damage to the temple with the intention to strike terror in the community, it said.
The blast took place in the early hours of October 23 near Kottai Eswaran temple in Ukkadam, and a 28-year-old man named Jamesha Mubeen who is also accused in the case was charred to death. The NIA has alleged that Jamesh Mubeen had sworn allegiance to ISIS and was planning to carry out a suicide attack in the temple complex.
Read: Coimbatore blast: Jamesha Mubin was ‘radicalised’, rejected democratic organisations
Source: The News Minute