NIA chargesheets man in blast case

New Delhi, April 26

The NIA on Friday chargesheeted Thaha Naseer, another accused in the 2022 ISIS-inspired Coimbatore car bomb blast case, an official statement said. Naseer and his associates had conspired to wage war against India and also to kill Indians in order to destabilise the country and create communal disharmony, it said. Naseer is the 14th accused to be chargesheeted in the case. The probe agency stated that it was the third supplementary chargesheet filed in connection with the case.

The blast was triggered on October 23, 2022 by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), driven by accused Jamesha Mubeen, who was killed in the blast. The explosion was aimed at avenging the alleged incarceration of Mohammed Azaruddin in prison, the NIA said.

Azaruddin was arrested in 2019 for propagating the ISIS ideology and had abetted his associates and hatched the conspiracy to target kafirs (non-believers of Islam) while inside the prison, it added.