Cops try to unravel plot

NT Correspondent

Kochi: A day after multiple blasts ripped through a convention hall at Kalamassery in Ernakulam district, Kerala where a prayer meeting of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian sect, was in progress, the police on Monday arrested Dominic Martin who had claimed responsibility for the attack.

Three people including a 12-year-old girl who suffered 95 per cent burns, have died in the incident which has injured over 50 people.

21 persons are under treatments and of them 16 are in the ICU. Three are in a severely critical condition.

Firecrackers and petrol used for blasts?

Sources told The Print that Dominic Martin claims he used ‘firecrackers and petrol’ to carry out the two blasts at Zamra International Convention Centre. Martin has a son studying in the UK and a daughter working in Kochi.

He was employed in Dubai for several years before he came back this year to attend to his daughter, who had dengue. Sources in Kerala Police also told The Print that Martin bought 50 ‘gundu’ — a type of firecracker — and eight litres of petrol, and that he allegedly planted explosives concealed in plastic bags at six places.