The police on Wednesday were granted three days’ custody of all the five persons who were arrested for their alleged involvement in a car blast in front of the Sangameswarar temple at Kottaimedu in Coimbatore in the early hours of October 23.
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Muhammad Thalha, 25, Muhammad Azharudheen, 23, Muhammad Riyas, 27, Firoz Ismail, 27, and Muhammad Nawaz Ismail, 27, were produced before the jurisdictional magistrate late in the evening. The magistrate sent them to police custody.
The investigating team will interrogate the accused to find out more about the blast, the suspected involvement of other persons and, mainly, the motive for the attack.
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Meanwhile, the police on Wednesday searched the residence of a relative of Jameesha Mubin, 29, the suspected mastermind of the blast.
Police sources said the investigating team had questioned the 28-year-old man, from Vincent Road, for several hours, based on which his residence was searched. A laptop was seized from the house and sent for cyber analysis, the sources added.
While Mubin was killed in the blast, five of his associates were arrested the following day. A senior officer said the police were looking into various aspects of the car explosion, especially the network of people involved in the incident.
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It is suspected that more people were involved in the procurement of raw materials such as potassium nitrate, aluminium powder, sulphur and charcoal, which were found at Mubin’s residence.
Meanwhile, officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), who were camping in Coimbatore, held discussions with the police officers involved in the investigation.
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On Monday, the Coimbatore City Police invoked Sections 16 (punishment for terrorist act) and 18 (punishment for conspiracy, etc.) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the accused, after finding prima facie evidence of a suspected terror plot, considering the materials found at Mubin’s house and the presence of two LPG cylinders, nails, marbles and chemicals in the car, possibly meant for a high-impact explosion.