Ahead of three communally sensitive anniversaries — constable Selvaraj murder, the 1997 communal riots, and the Babri Masjid demolition — the police have beefed up security in Coimbatore. Security measures are expected to remain strict until December 6, the Babri Masjid demolition day. According to a report by The Hindu, 3,000 police personnel have been deployed on security duty. The vigil has also been made stricter given the recent car blast in Coimbatore.
On October 23, a Maruti 800 vehicle with LPG cylinders exploded near the Kottai Eswaran temple in Ukkadam, only for the police to later find that an explosive device was used to trigger the blast. Five youngsters — Mohammad Thalka (25), Mohammad Asarudheen (25) of Ukkadam; Mohammad Riyaz (27), Feroz Ismail (27), and Mohammad Navaz Ismail (27) of GM Nagar — were arrested in connection with the incident.
Meanwhile, a taxi driver recently claimed that he spotted a person resembling the prime suspect in the Mangaluru blast at the Isha Yoga centre in Coimbatore during the festival of Deepavali. The blast case he refers to is the one that took place in an autorickshaw in Mangaluru on November 19, in which two persons sustained injuries. However, a little-known outfit by the name Islamic Resistance Council (IRC) claimed responsibility for the blast later.
The ties between Hindus and Muslims in Coimbatore had further strained after the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. Eventually, the murder of a traffic constable named Selvaraj by three Muslim youths at Ukkadam on November 29, 1997, pushed the situation over the edge. Violence broke out in Townhall and South Coimbatore areas where shops and establishments owned by Muslims were targeted by Hindu mobs. Totally, 18 Muslims were killed in the violence and in the police firing that took place between November 29 and December 1, 1997.
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