So far 5 people have been arrested in the Coimbatore blast case. (Representative)
Chennai:
The Tamil Nadu government today said a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the Coimbatore blasts case will be recommended to the Centre.
The state government also announced the formation of a special police force to thwart sabotage and strengthen its intelligence wing.
A high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister MK Stalin at the Secretariat took the current status of the investigation related to the blast and decided to constitute a special force to prevent similar incidents.
On October 23, 75 kg of explosives was seized from the house of a man in Coimbatore, who died after a gas cylinder exploded.
The blast took place when he was driving near a temple in a car in Tamil Nadu’s Western Textile town and allegedly tried to escape from a police check post.
Referring to Mr. Stalin’s instructions to the officials in the meeting, the government said it had been decided to recommend to the Center to hand over the matter to the NIA.
The move is considering the possibility of crossing the borders of Tamil Nadu and the possibility of international relations emerging during the investigation of the blast case, an official release said here.
As part of measures to further strengthen security, the government said it would set up new police stations in three Coimbatore areas of Karumbu Kadai, Sundarpuram and Kaundampalayam.
During a review of the overall law and order and security scenario, the government decided to install additional hi-tech surveillance cameras in major cities of the state including Coimbatore.
Mr Stalin directed officers to deploy additional personnel in the intelligence wing and to protect and encourage informers.
The high-level meeting was attended by Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu, Director General of Police C Silendra Babu and top officials of the state and intelligence officials.
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act has been invoked in the Coimbatore car blast case and so far five people have been arrested and the state police is currently probing the matter. In 1998, bomb blasts took place in Coimbatore.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)