Kochi: A special investigation team has been formed to probe the bomb blast at a Jehova's Witnesses meeting at Kalamassery in Kerala that killed two persons and injured over 50 people.
M R Ajithkumar, the ADGP in charge of law and order, is heading the team, state police chief Sheikh Darvesh Saheb said in an order.
The team will have 21 members including Kochi city police commissioner A Akbar, anti-terrorism squad DIG Putta Vimaladithya, Kochi city police deputy commissioner S Sasidharan and Thrikkakara assistant commissioner P V Baby. Ernakulam town assistant commissioner Rajkumar P, Kalamassery inspector Vipin Das, Kannamali inspector Rajesh, Kuruppampady inspector Firoze and ATS inspector Biju John Lukose are also part of the SIT. Deputy Commissioner Sasidharan is the investigation officer.
Two women died and 51 others were injured, some seriously, in multiple blasts at a Christian religious gathering in a convention centre in Kalamassery on Sunday morning, sending shockwaves across Kerala.
The blasts took place at an international convention centre in Kalamassery, where hundreds of followers of the minority Christian group Jehovah's Witnesses had assembled on the concluding day of a three-day-long prayer meeting.
A few hours after the incident, a man claiming to be a member of Jehovah's Witnesses, surrendered before police in the Thrissur district of the state, saying that he carried out the multiple blasts.
Police registered an FIR under Sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC as well as provisions of the Explosives Act and the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
