The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday carried out searches at 40 locations in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka in connection with the Coimbatore Mangaluru blasts.
Sleuths conducted searches at 32 locations in Tamil Nadu and Kerala in connection with the Coimbatore car blast case and at eight locations in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka in connection with the Mangaluru blast case, as per an NIA spokesperson.
Searches were conducted at 14 locations in Coimbatore, three locations each in Chennai and Tirunelveli, two locations each in Thiruvannamalai and Nilgiris, one location each in Trichy, Tuticorin, Dindigul, Mayiladuthurai, Krishnagiri, Kanyakumari and Tenkasi of Tamil Nadu and one location in Kerala’s Ernakulam in the Coimbatore car blast case.
In the Mangaluru blast case, the residential premises of suspects were searched at eight locations in districts of Tiruppur (2) and Coimbatore (1) of Tamil Nadu, four places in Kerala’s Ernakulam and one placed in Karnataka’s Mysuru.
The Coimbatore car blast case relates to a bomb blast in a car laden with explosives in front of Kottai Eswaran Temple in Coimbatore city in October last year. The blast was carried out by ISIS operative Jamesha Mubeen, who was killed on spot.
Days after the blast, the investigation was taken over by the NIA.
On November 19, 2022, an improvised explosive device (IED) planted in a moving auto-rickshaw went off in Mangaluru city when the accused was taking it to a public place to plant it. The NIA took over this case on November 23.
During searches, the NIA seized a large number of digital devices and cash amounting to ₹4 lakh in the two cases.