Coimbatore blast: Five arrested, UAPA invoked
Coimbatore, Oct 25: The stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act has been invoked in the case relating to a car explosion in the city that killed one person, while five others have been arrested over the incident and police have intensified the probe covering all aspects including terror angle.
The arrested were identified by the police as Muhammad Talka, Muhammed Azharuddin, Muhammed Riyaz, Firoze Ismail and Muhammed Nawaz Ismail, all in their 20s.
With some of them being enquired by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2019, the police were also probing their activities after that, City Police Commissioner V Balakrishnan said.
Hours after the Tamil Nadu BJP questioned why the police had not specified the reasons for the arrest of the five and the sections under which they have been detained, Balakrishnan said that besides the UAPA, other IPC sections like conspiracy have also been included in the case.
Police are also probing if the man killed in the gas cylinder explosion in the car on Sunday, Jemisha Mubeen had any links with Mohammed Azharuddin, an accused in the Easter Sunday bomb blasts in a Sri Lankan Church in 2019, which killed over 250 people.
The Kerala visits of the some of the arrested are also being investigated.
Further, 75 kg of potassium nitrate, charcoal and aluminium powder have been recovered from Mubeen's house, Balakrishnan added. These chemicals are used in making country bombs, police had said earlier.
"UAPA has been invoked since there has been an explosion," Balakrishnan told reporters here.
Three of the arrested were seen in a CCTV footage, along with Mubeen earlier, carrying two LPG cylinders and two small drums, the content of which has been sent for forensic examination, the Commissioner said.
While the three had helped Mubeen carry the items "with knowledge," another person was apprehended for coordination. One man was arrested for providing the car, Balakrishnan added.
Asked if the police were probing a possible terror angle, Balakrishnan reiterated that the UAPA has been invoked since there was an explosion.."all angles are being probed," he said.
Soon after the explosion on Sunday, the police took all steps to maintain law and order and this ensured Deepavali was celebrated peacefully on Monday, he said.
The number of checkposts in the city have been increased and pickets erected wherever required.
Meanwhile, theopposition BJP targeted the ruling DMK over the matter and said it exposed "intelligence failure."
"How long will it take for the Chief Minister to accept the Intelligence has failed...bring professionals back to the force...the Home department had solid professionals, with those good in counter-terrorism, prior to 2021," TN BJP president K Annamalai said, addressing a press conference in Chennai.
The DMK came to power winning the 2021 elections and chief minister M K Stalin holds the Home portfolio. After the DMK came to power, the priorities have changed, he indicated.
Annamalai expressed apprehensions if the Sunday explosion was some kind of a "suicide attack," and claimed the western region of the state, comprising the industrial city of Coimbatore among others, was in the radar of "the ISIS."
Without divulging details, he said he has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the explosion.
In an apparent response to Annamalai, state Minister V Senthil Balaji said following the incident, steps were taken to ensure peaceful Deepavali celebrations in the city.
"On the directions of the CM, the DGP visited the spot after the incident. Arrests were made and the police and the government acted diligently (following which), there was no flutter among people, he said in a tweet.
The Electricity Minister alleged some people wanted to gain "political mileage" over possible "communal riots" but that would not happen in Tamil Nadu.
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LoP Ashoka targets CM govt over corruption, says being 'shameless' in public life not forgivable
Bengaluru (PTI): Targeting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the Congress government in Karnataka on corruption, BJP leader R Ashoka on Friday said, being foolish was forgivable, but being "shameless" in public life was not.
The Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly claimed that in just 30 months of its tenure, the Congress administration has broken every previous record on corruption-related controversies.
He was responding to Siddaramaiah's post on 'X' on Thursday hitting back at the BJP, stating that Upa Lokayukta Justice Veerappa's claims of "63 per cent corruption" were based on his report in November 2019, when BJP's B S Yediyurappa was the CM.
"But Ashoka, without understanding the Upa Lokayukta's statement properly, has ended up tying the BJP's own bells of sins onto our heads and has effectively shot himself in the foot," the CM had said, as he accused Ashoka of foolishness for trying to twist Veerappa's statement to target the current government.
Responding, Ashoka said, "it is one thing to be called foolish in politics, that can be forgiven."
"But in public life, especially in the Chief Minister's chair, one must never become shameless," Ashoka posted on 'X' on Friday addressing Siddaramaiah.
Noting that the CM himself had admitted on the floor of the Assembly that a Rs 87 crore scam took place in the Valmiki Development Corporation, he said that when a CM acknowledges such a massive irregularity inside the floor of the House, the natural expectation is immediate action and accountability.
"But instead of taking responsibility, you continue in office as if nothing has happened. What should the people of Karnataka call this, if not sheer shamelessness," he asked.
Pointing out that the CM's Economic Advisor and senior Congress MLA Basavaraja Rayareddy had publicly stated that under Congress rule, Karnataka has become No.1 in corruption, Ashoka said, "Yet, you still cling to the Chief Minister's chair without a moment of introspection. What should the people of Karnataka call this, if not sheer shamelessness."
Senior Congress MLA C R Patil had exposed the "money for House" racket in the Housing Department and even warned that the government would collapse if the details he has were made public, Ashoka said.
"Despite such serious allegations from within your own party (Congress), you neither initiated an inquiry nor acted against the concerned minister. What should the people of Karnataka call this, if not sheer shamelessness," Ashoka asked the CM.
Highlighting the "40 percent commission" allegation Congress made against the previous BJP government, the opposition leader said, the commission that the Siddaramaiah government appointed concluded that the accusation was baseless.
"After your own panel demolished your own claim, what moral right do you have to continue repeating that allegation. What should the people of Karnataka call this, if not sheer shamelessness," he asked.
For the last two and a half years, Karnataka has been 'drowning' in corruption, scandals, irregularities and allegations across departments. Ashoka said, "If I begin listing every case that emerged under your government, even 24 hours would not be enough."
"And the most tragic aspect of your administration is this: the unbearable pressure, corruption demands and administrative harassment under your government pushed several officers and contractors into extreme distress - including the suicide of Chandrasekharan which exposed the Valmiki Development Corporation scam - a sign of how deeply broken the system has become under your watch," he said.
Instead of fixing this hopeless environment, the government has tried to bury every complaint and silence every voice, he charged.
"Being foolish is forgivable, but being shameless in public life is definitely not."
"When your own ministers admit scams, when your own advisors certify Karnataka as No.1 in corruption, and when your own MLAs expose rackets inside your departments - clinging to power without accountability is not leadership. It is shamelessness in its purest form." PTI KSU
Earlier on Thursday Ashoka had demanded that the corruption case and allegations in the state against the Congress government be handed over to a CBI investigation, citing a reported statement by Upalokaykta Justice Veerappa alleging "63 per cent corruption", following which Siddaramaiah hit back at the BJP leader.
