The special investigation team (SIT) probing the multiple blasts at a Jehovah’s Witnesses religious gathering at Kalamassery in Kerala recovered components used by the sole accused, Martin V.D., to manufacture the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) used for the explosion from the terrace of his house at Athani near the Cochin International Airport, Nedumbassery, on October 31.
The team led by Deputy Commissioner (Kochi City) S. Sasidharan took the accused to the site around 10 a.m as part of the evidence collection process. The recovered components included batteries, wires, and bottles filled with petrol. The preliminary inference revealed that he had assembled the IEDs on the terrace of the two-storey building.
The building, located within the Chengamanad police stations limits under the Ernakulam Rural police, has been rented out to a few persons employed at a private firm, while one room has been taken on rent for the safekeeping of equipment used for football training conducted by a retired police officer on the adjoining ground.
The police also collected evidence from the tenants on whether the accused was found under suspicious circumstances at the house on or before Sunday (October 31, 2023), the day of the blasts. Nearby residents had pointed out that Martin visited the house on October 27 in connection with maintenance works of the building. They said he had not stayed in the building.
The accused will be produced before the Principal District and Sessions Court in Kochi by October 31 afternoon. The police had invoked the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the FIR filed in the court.
Three persons, including a 12-year-old girl, were killed and over 50 injured in the multiple blasts at the religious gathering in Kalamassery on October 31, 2023. The condition of three injured persons remained extremely critical. Sixteen of those injured continued to remain in intensive care units in various hospitals in Ernakulam district. The total number of the injured receiving treatment in hospitals is 21.
