Kerala serial blasts accused spent just ₹ 3,000 to make bombs: Sources

mangaloretoday.com/NDTV

Kochi, Oct 31, 2023: The main suspect in serial blasts at a Kerala’s prayer meeting on Sunday has claimed to have learned bomb-making from the internet.

48-year-old Dominic Martin, who is said to be an expert in electric circuit, says he spent about ₹ 3,000 to make bombs.

 

 

Martin’s family had been living at a rented accommodation near Kochi for over five years. Martin worked in the Gulf as a foreman for years - where he learned to put together an electronic device.

He returned to India about two months ago to carry out blasts, sources said.

Initial investigation suggests that the IEDs were made of low-grade explosives that are used in firecrackers, sources say. "He assembled the IEDs at his home," they said.

Martin had placed the explosives inside the hall with the aim of killing the participants of the Jehovah’s Witnesses convention.

Before surrendering, Martin also posted a video message on a social media platform. In the video, the man claimed that he took the decision as the teachings of the organisation were "seditious."

The community, he said in the video, is teaching wrong values to people, even the children.

He said he had asked them to stop but no one took any notice of him. When he understood that this community is bad for the nation, he decided to engineer the serial blasts, he claimed.

Two women and a 12-year-old girl were killed and 50 people were injured in a series of blasts at a convention centre in Kalamassery near Kochi on Sunday. About 2,000 people were present at the convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

At least three blasts were reported within minutes after the prayer meeting started. Eyewitnesses told reporters that the first blast occurred in the middle of a prayer.

Officials said the group had an evacuation plan which kicked into action immediately after the first blast, however, there was a lot of smoke, which led to a stampede.

The serial blasts will now be probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which specialises in counter-terrorism operations.