NIA files charge sheet against 5 more individuals in 2022 Coimbatore blast case

New Delhi, April 17 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday filed charge sheet against five more persons in the ISIS-inspired Coimbatore car bomb explosion case of 2022, in which the suicide bomber who perpetrated the blast was killed, an official said.

According to a statement, in its fourth supplementary charge sheet in the case RC-01/2022/NIA/CHE, the NIA has charged Sheikh Hidayathullah, Umar Faaruq, Pavas Rahman, Sharan Mariappan and Aboo Hanifa for their involvement in terror financing and other activities linked with the terror attack that had targeted a Hindu temple, Arulmigu Kottai Sangameshwarar Thirukovil, in Coimbatore in October 2022.

With this, a total of 17 accused have been chargesheeted in the case so far.

In its latest charge sheet, the NIA has filed a fresh set of charges for terror financing against Sheikh Hidayathullah and the attack's Amir, Umar Faaruq, both of whom had been charge-sheeted earlier for other offences in the case.

"The two accused had orchestrated a fake Covid vaccine certificate scam in 2021-2022, using the funds earned from the scam to procure materials for explosives and other resources for the car bomb attack. The scam was facilitated by accused Pavas Rahman and Sharan, while Aboo Hanifa had provided funds for generating fake certificates," the statement read.

An official said that Jamesha Mubeen had carried out the suicide bombing using a Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) in a modified Maruti car.

He had died in the incident, and charges against him were thus abated.

The statement mentioned that as per the NIA investigation, Mubeen had pledged allegiance to ISIS' self-proclaimed Caliph, Abu-Al-Hasan Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi, and aimed to target non-believers as part of his extremist ideology.

NIA investigations further revealed that prior to the attack, the accused had held meetings at the Viyyur High-Security Prison and Sathyamangalam Reserve Forest to plan the conspiracy.

Their objective was to avenge the imprisonment of their leader, Mohammed Azharuddin, who had been arrested by NIA from Coimbatore in 2019 for promoting violent Salafi-Jihadi ideology, the statement read.

--IANS

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