In Coimbatore, a bomb on wheels

Two decades after serial explosions claimed 58 lives, Coimbatore turned tense the day before Deepavali when a car blast on a busy street left one man — the main accused — dead. Wilson Thomas and S. Vijay Kumar piece together the details of the investigation of a suspected terror plot

K. Valliammal, 73, of Kottai Eswaran Kovil Street in Coimbatore, went to bed late on the night of October 22. The next morning, she woke up with a jolt, not to the usual chants from the Sangameswarar temple in the neighbourhood, but to a deafening explosion.

“I heard a blast and rushed out of the house. Flames and smoke billowed from the road near the temple. I thought the transformer close to the temple had exploded. Then I realised that the flames were coming from a car in front of the temple,” recalled Valliammal, who runs a home food eatery on the populated street. She said the blast was followed by another.

Coimbatore turned tense with the news of the blasts. It was the morning before Deepavali. Those who had made last-minute shopping plans were afraid to step out. The police began to identify and isolate deserted vehicles, which had been parked for a long time, across the city.

Senthil Kannan, a milk agent who lives at the temple junction, heard the explosion a few minutes after waking up at 4 a.m. and seeing the temple’s gopuram, a routine he had been following for several years. He ran to the street and found a burning car in front of the temple. 

Sub-inspector R. Selvarajan of Ukkadam station, head constable Deva Kumar, and constable Pandiya Raja were the first to go close to the burning car. They were manning a temporary checkpoint in the area.

“I also thought the transformer had exploded, as the power had gone off. On my way to the fire ball, I alerted the control room over my walkie-talkie. As I got closer, I found that a car was in flames. I told the control room to alert fire services,” said Selvarajan.

The Coimbatore south fire station received the alert. A fire tender reached the spot within minutes and put out the flames.