Chennai, Apr 17 (UNI) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday
chargsheeted five more accused in the 2022 ISIS-inspired Coimbatore car
bomb explosion in which a suicide bomber was killed on the Deepavali eve
near Kottai Sangamaeshwarar temple near the sensitive Ukkadam area in the
Textile City.
In a statement, posted on X, NIA said in its fourth supplementary chargesheet
in the case, it has charged the five accused with terror financing and other
activities linked with the terror attack that targetted the Hindu Temple.
The five accused against whom the chargesheets were filed were Sheikh
Hidayatullah, Umar Faaruq, Pavas Rahman, Sharan Mariappan an Aboo
Hanifa.
With this, a total of 17 accused have been chargesheeted in the case so far.
In its latest chargesheet, NIA has filed a fresh set of charges for terror financing
against Sheikh Hidayatullah and the attack's Amir, Umar Faaruq, both of whom
had been chargesheeted earlier for other offences in the case.
The NIA said the duo had orchestrated a fake COVID vaccine certificate scam
in 2021-22, 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 Pavas Rahman and Sharan, while Aboo had provided
funds for generating fake certificates, it said.
It said Jameesha Mubeen had carried out the suicide bombing attack using a
Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) in a modified Maruti car.
He had died in the incident and charges against him were abated.
NIA investigations revealed that Mubeen had pledged to ISIS's self-proclaimed
Caliph, Abu-Al Hasan, Al-Hashami, Al-Quarashi and aimed to target non-believers
as part of the extremist ideology.
The investigations further revealed that prior to the attack, the accused had held
meetings at the Viyyur high-security prison and Sathyamangalam Reserve Forest
area to plan the conspiracy.
Their objective was to avenge the imprisonment of their leader Mohd Azharuddin,
who had been arrested by NIA in Coimbatore in 2019 for promoting the violent
Salafi-Jihadi ideology.
UNI GV 2215