The Kerala cabinet on Wednesday, November 15, announced that a compensation of Rs 5 lakh will be paid to the families of the five people who died in the Kalamassery blasts of October 29. The money will be paid from the Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF). The treatment expenses of all the victims and the injured will also be compensated.
Multiple blasts had struck a convention centre in Kalamassery of Kochi on Sunday, October 29. It was the final day of a three day convention of the Jehovah's Witnesses, a community that identifies as Christian but does not follow the practices of mainstream Christians. Dominic Martin, who was a former member of the community, claimed responsibility for the attack later that day, saying that he was disillusioned by the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Read: Inside the world of Jehovah’s Witnesses in India: Faith, practices and controversies
A woman had died immediately after the blast and she was later identified as Layona Paulose, a 60 year old devotee from Kuruppampady of Kochi. In the days that followed, four more people, including a 12-year-old child, succumbed to the burn injuries they had suffered in the blasts. Libina, the child, died a day after the blasts. Her mother Sally Pradeepan, aged 45, died on November 12. Two other women who had been at the venue - 53-year-old Kumari from Thodupuzha and Molly Jolly of Kalamassery - also passed away in November.
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Seventeen others are still undergoing treatment in various hospitals. This includes two of Libina's brothers, 24-year-old Praveen and 21-year-old Rahul.
Dominic Martin, who was charged with section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act and sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) will be produced before the court on Wednesday.