New Delhi: Six persons were arrested in connection with the Coimbatore bomb blast case, said officials on Thursday.

The arrests were made after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted searches at 43 locations across Tamil Nadu and one location in Kerala, reports news agency ANI.

The NIA officials also seized digital devices and incriminating documents from these spots.

The searches were made in connection to a case pertaining to a bomb blast in a car laden with explosives in front of Kottai Eswaran Temple of Coimbatore district on October 23 this year, the report said.

“These searches were conducted in eight districts of Tamil Nadu namely Chennai, Coimbatore, Thiruvallur, Thiruppur, Nilgiris, Chengalpatu, Kanchipuram and Nagapattinam. One location had also been carried out in the Palakkad district of Kerala,” read an official statement.

On October 23, a car loaded with two gas cylinders exploded near a temple in Coimbatore. The explosion occurred near the Kottai Eswaran temple, killing a 25-year-old man, identified as Jamesha Mubeen.

As per police, Mubeen (25), who was an engineering graduate, has been previously questioned by the NIA in 2019 for alleged terror links.

The NIA statement said that the accused persons had conspired with deceased Jamesha Mubeen to procure different chemicals and other ingredients for fabrication of improvised explosive devices (IED), including vehicle-borne IED, from online shopping platforms to commit terrorist acts.

Further investigations are in progress, the agency added.