Tension in Tirunelveli after police conduct surprise raids

Chennai: Tension gripped some areas of Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli after police conducted surprise raids on Tuesday at the residence of four people suspected to be involved in the Coimbatore car blast in which one person, Jameesha Mubin, was charred to death.

Sources in the Tirunelveli police told IANS that the raids were conducted as part of the NIA probe into the Coimbatore car blast and the agencies stepping up the ante on the hidden forces behind the blast. Police conducted raids at the residences of Shaib Mohammed Ali, 35, Syed Mohammed Bukhari, 34, Mohammed Ali, 39, and Mohammed Ibrahim, 37, on Tuesday morning. The residences were situated at Khader Moopan Street in Melapalayam and once the raids commenced, no one was allowed to enter or leave the residences.

The Muslim-dominated area was gripped by tension during the morning raids and sloganeering was conducted against the police by the crowd.

Police said that Ibrahim was deported from Saudi Arabia after he campaigned for tge banned IS in that country in 2019. His residence was then raided by police and National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths who found some evidence from there. He was arrested and was out on bail recently.