The police have started preparing the sketch of a person who was suspected to have planted the improvised explosive devise (IED) that went off near the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court within the Civil Station compound here on Tuesday.
The sketch is being drawn on the basis of the information given by one Mohammed, who had been sitting in his Maruti car when the low-intensity bomb placed under a Chevrolet car parked nearby went off at 12.55 p.m. The investigators told The Hindu that they had got some vague information about the suspect. Mr. Mohammed said he had seen a man in check shirt standing near the car with a bag. However, he could not describe in detail the man whom he had seen at 11.20 a.m. Mr. Mohammed was watching a video on his smartphone when the blast shook the collectorate campus at 12.55 p.m.
Dazed and disoriented by the blast in close proximity, Mr. Mohammed ran for cover, leaving his car behind.
His car too was damaged in the blast. It took time for him to recover from the shock.
The police said the investigators were in touch with their counterparts in Chittur, Kollam and Mysuru, where similar blasts had taken place on April 7, June 15 and August 1 respectively.
“The modus operandi strongly points to one single group,” said P.T. Balan, Narcotic Cell Dy.SP, who heads the special investigation team. He said they were doing a combined inquiry with the involvement of several investigating teams, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Intelligence ADGP R. Sreelekha visited the blast spot on Thursday morning and reviewed the progress of the investigation. ADGP (South) B. Sandhya will reach here on Friday.
