On November 2, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) searched Afzal Khan’s house. Khan is the sixth accused in the Coimbatore blast case. More than an hour was spent searching Khan’s home on Vincent Road in Ukkadam.
Afzal Khan was arrested by Coimbatore city police on October 27, four days after the blast. He is a relative of Jameesha Mubin, suspected to be the mastermind who died in the blast on October 23. According to sources, Afzal had procured the explosive devices and materials online.
Meanwhile, Coimbatore city police special team went to a housing board tenement in Ukkadam to search for Raja Hussain, the zonal president of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).
The team had to withdraw when Hussain demanded to produce the court order authorising the search. The team collected details about the family members from people living in the neighbourhood.
On October 24, one day after the car blast near Sangameswarar Temple in the city, five accomplices of Jameesha Mubin, identified as Muhammad Thalha, Muhammad Azharudheen, Muhammad Riyas, Firoz Ismail, and Muhammad Nawaz Ismail were arrested. The investigators found over 75 kg of potassium nitrate, aluminium powder, sulphur, and charcoal at Jameesha Mubin’s residence, a rented house on the second floor of a building on H.M.P.R. Street.
