New Delhi: The death toll in the explosions at a Christian prayer meeting at Kalamassery in Kerala has risen to three, with Malayala Manorama reporting that a 12-year-old girl succumbed to her burn injuries early today, October 30.
Yesterday, close to 40 people had been injured, in addition to a woman having died, as a result of IED blasts that took place at the meeting in the Zamra Convention Centre in the town.
Hours later, a man named Dominic Martin turned himself in at the Kodakara police station in Thrissur.
‘Spitting poison’
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has meanwhile summarily criticised Union minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar for his remarks in response to the blast, calling them “poison.”
Chandrasekhar had posted on X in the aftermath of the blast, appearing to blame “appeasement politics” and insinuating that Muslim groups were responsible for the blast – which is untrue.
“Those who are poisonous will keep spitting poison,” Vijayan said to reporters, according to Mint.
“He is a minister and he should show a minimum level of respect to the investigating agencies,” Vijayan said, adding that “they are making such statements targeting a few set of people.”
“This is based on their communal agenda, but Kerala doesn’t have such an agenda. Kerala always stood against communalism. On what basis are these people targeting one community and taking a specific angle? The probe is still ongoing, so on what basis is he making such a statement while holding such a responsible position?” the chief minister also said.
Dominic Martin’s video
A video, released ostensibly by Martin and reported upon by MediaOne, shows him taking responsibility of the crime.
“I am Martin from Kerala,” he says in the footage, recorded in Hindi.
“Right now in Kerala, there was a bomb blast. Some may have died. Some may have been injured. I am not sure,” he says.
Martin says that he recorded the video to tell people why he engineered the blasts at what he claims was a Jehovah’s Witness meeting. “I was with them for 16 years,” he says, adding that in the last “five or six years” he realised that they were very dangerous and it was wrong for them to operate in the country.
He also noted that his warnings were not heard by them. “I wondered what I could do alone,” he says.
Martin has been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.