TN Minister and DMK chief downplays Coimbatore blast, refuses to name it ‘terror assault’ regardless of ISIS literature being recovered from accused: Details

On November 8, Tamil Nadu’s Finance Minister P Thiagarajan downplayed the Coimbatore blast throughout an interview with India Today. He refused to name it a terror assault stating National Investigation Agency (NIA) investigation is underway within the matter, and he can’t remark with out getting a report from them. His remarks got here at a time when ISIS literature and different incrementing materials have already been recovered from Jamesha Mubin, the 29-year-old accused who died within the cylinder blast.

During the 44-minute lengthy interview, Akshita Nandgopal, Associate Editor and Anchor for India Today questioned Thiagarajan concerning the latest cylinder blast that occurred in Coimbatore. She identified that in an funding summit in Karnataka, it was reported that the state may lose out on investments due to the communal incidents that occurred over time. She in contrast it with the latest blast in Coimbatore and requested about his views.

‘Coimbatore had a much worse series of events’

Thiagarajan reminded Nandgopal concerning the previous collection of “much worse” incidents. He stated, “One blast is not the basis for anything, and maybe you are relatively young, but you may not remember that Coimbatore had a much worse series of events than this in the past. So I think this particular blast, I would venture to say that Coimbatore is probably the second Hub in Tamil Nadu after Chennai and will continue to be that way. I am on the ground. I am responsible for administration. I am saying that it will continue to show results and deliver jobs and grow faster than almost any place in India. One blast notwithstanding or the politicisation of one, you know, was not even a blast it was a cylinder and a car going off in the middle of multiple attempts at other things.”

Minister refused to contemplate it a terror act

When requested if he maintained it was a cylinder blast, he stated, “The record shows it was a cylinder in a car there is a video of the cylinders being loaded there are the people who are doing it. They have been arrested. The case has been transferred to the NIA. Some facts are not in question. The facts are not interpretable by political parties because they feel like it. Facts are facts. After that, you can interpret the consequences, the implications, the history, the future and all that, but facts are facts. You got to interpret facts if there is video evidence of the cylinder being loaded in the car and then that car being exploded. I do not understand why you assume that every party can have a different view of that fact.”

When requested concerning the Bharatiya Janata Party state chief Okay Annamalai said that it was a terror assault, and Thiagarajan refused to reply the allegations. He was additional requested about DMK not taking the blast significantly. He stated, “There is no question of the DMK doing anything or not doing anything. This is not a political issue. [The question is if] a government has to take it seriously or not seriously. A government took it seriously and transferred it to NIA before they asked.”

Nandgopal questioned why there have been alleged makes an attempt to downplay the potential terror angle by calling it a cylinder blast. Thiagarajan lashed out on the anchor and stated her data couldn’t be superior to the state. He stated, “Your information cannot be of superior quality than the government of Tamil Nadu receives. I do not think you have your own intelligence Department. Whatever the police have done has been done because the administration runs the police. So I am not sure why you believe you have any inside information beyond what the government says.”

‘Are you trying to add oil to the fire?’ Minister lashed on the anchor

He additional questioned the anchor if she was making an attempt so as to add oil to the fireplace. The anchor had requested him if there was an intelligence failure as the entire incident appeared like “sheer luck” that the blast occurred and police got here to find out about what had been cooking within the state. Thiagarajan didn’t prefer it being known as “sheer luck”. He stated, “I do not understand why that is luck. They plan to ignite a cylinder. Their cylinder ignites. Why do you assume there’s luck? I do not understand. I do not speculate on things I do not know, and that distinguishes me from you. I do not make assumptions about what it was or what it was not. It was an incident that is under investigation by the NIA. The NIA is not controlled by the government of Tamil Nadu. The NIA will give a report based on that we can have a conversation.”

When requested if, based mostly on the obtainable data, the Tamil Nadu authorities would name it a terror assault or not, Thiagarajan evaded the purpose. He stated the investigation is below NIA, and so they can’t do something till the NIA returns and offers them data. “What is it that you want us to do? How can we? What is the point of giving the investigation to the NIA if we are going to run a parallel decision-making setup,” he stated.

‘I do not take rabble rousers seriously’

When requested that BJP stated they demanded that the investigation be given to NIA, Thiagarajan requested to point out any doc that stated NIA approached them to take over the investigation. He stated the state authorities handed over the investigation to NIA earlier than any such request got here. He additionally refused to touch upon the allegations raised by BJP that the state authorities was making an attempt to save lots of a specific neighborhood. He stated, “I do not take rabble Rouses seriously. I do not think instigators seriously. I take reasonable human beings seriously. I do not consider the individual [referring to Annamalai] you mentioned as one of them.”

Coimbatore Blast

On October 22, Jamesha Mubin was caught on CCTV loading a big object (LPG cylinder) wrapped in a white bag onto his Maruti 800 automotive. It was round 11:25 pm. Mubin was accompanied by three different males, specifically, Mohammad Riyaz, Feroz Ismail, and Mohammad Navaz Ismail.

At round 4 am on October 23 evening, the automotive carrying Jamesha Mubin exploded mid-journey within the Ukkadam space of Coimbatore. The incident came about adjoining to the Kottai Easwaran Temple.

Preliminary investigation revealed that one of many two business cylinders onboard the automotive had exploded whereas the opposite remained intact. As per stories, the stays of Mubin’s physique had been unrecognisable.

A complete of 6 folks, specifically, Mohammad Thalka, Mohammad Azarudheen, Riyaz, Nawaz, Afsar Khan and Feroz, had been arrested in connection to the case. It additionally got here to gentle that the NIA interrogated Mubin in 2019 relating to the Easter bomb blasts.

It later got here to gentle that Jamesha Mubin was motivated by the Islamic State and engaged in making ready for jihad. Reportedly, he was on a suicide mission to destroy a big space, together with a Hindu temple utilizing his automotive bomb.

On October 27, the case was transferred to the NIA by the Centre, following the advice of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. An official stated, “The Union home ministry decided to hand over the Coimbatore blast case to the NIA.”