The man who died in an explosion of LPG cylinders in a car near a temple in Coimbatore’s Ukkadam was identified as 25-year-old Jamesha Mubin, Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) Sylendra Babu said on Sunday, October 23. The police also recovered materials used to make explosives from Mubin’s house. However, it remained unclear whether the blast was deliberate or accidental. When asked about the possible motive behind the blast, the DGP said, “There was a police check post which is manned 24x7. He was unable to cross the check post, and we think the explosion could have taken place as he was trying to escape from the spot. We are still investigating the case.”
Police recovered potassium nitrate, aluminium powder, charcoal, and sulphur – materials used to make country bombs – from Mubin’s residence. “We don't know what the target was, or what they had planned. But from the explosives we have recovered from his house, it is clear that they were planning something in the future. We found low-intensity explosives in his residence,” the DGP told reporters.
While the DGP said that Mubin, an engineering graduate, was previously questioned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) back in 2019, he added that there were no cases or adverse notice against him. The DGP also said that as of Sunday, the police were not aware if Mubin was associated with any particular organisation. However, as he had been in contact with people in certain organisations, those persons have been taken into custody and are being investigated, the DGP said.
With regard to security measures taken in the wake of the blast, the DGP said that approximately one lakh police personnel are on duty across the state due to Deepavali, adding that additional security measures have been undertaken in Coimbatore. Following the blast, all the shops in the vicinity of Kottai Easwaran Temple were closed and a large number of police personnel were deployed in the area. Police also set up barricades in a one-kilometer radius around the blast site.
The explosion occurred in the early hours of Sunday in a Maruti 800 vehicle with LPG cylinders, near the Kottai Eswaran Temple in Ukkadam. With Ukkadam being a communally sensitive area in Coimbatore, top police officials including DGP Sylendra Babu, Additional DGP (Law and Order) Thamarai Kannan and forensic officials rushed to the location. Six special teams were formed to investigate the case, with each team investigating a specific aspect of the incident.
The car in which the cylinders exploded was registered in Pollachi, police had said. “The car had nine previous owners, and we managed to locate the owners in a short period of time and identified that it has been bought by Jamesha. We also found out from where these cylinders were bought,” the DGP added.
Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President K Annamalai and Coimbatore South MLA from BJP Vanathi Srinivasan have both issued statements condemning the incident. Both BJP leaders recalled the 1998 blast in Coimbatore while demanding action. Vanathi also urged the police not to view the blast as a mere accident but to investigate the incident from all angles.