The Tamil Nadu government has granted 60 days of parole to five convicts serving life sentences in the 1998 Coimbatore serial blasts case, according to officials cited in reports. The five are Mohammed Ansari, Mohammed Ali, Monappa alias Mohammed Hassan, Mohammed Ajam and Nawab Khan.

Source: Daily Jagran

Officials said the parole was granted on personal and health grounds after the men had spent around 25 to 30 years in prison. They were convicted for their roles in the blasts linked to the banned Al-Umma organisation, and reports said they are lodged in Coimbatore Central Prison.

The 1998 blasts

The synchronised explosions on February 14, 1998, claimed 58 lives and left more than 250 people injured. The bombings came just before a scheduled election rally of senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, who was identified as the prime target. In 2007, a special court convicted 158 people in the case and awarded life sentences to 43, including Al-Umma founder S.A. Basha, India Today reported.

Source: India Today via News89

BJP demands cancellation

Tamil Nadu BJP chief spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathy condemned the decision in a post on X, saying personal grounds could not override the gravity of a terror attack he described as one of the darkest chapters in the state's history. He called the parole an insult to the dead and a betrayal of the living, and demanded its immediate cancellation and no further concessions to Al-Umma convicts in the case.

An official cited by India Today said the men had been granted parole earlier, but it was briefly revoked during the Assembly elections. TVK legislator V.M.S. Mustafa, meanwhile, thanked Chief Minister Vijay for ordering their parole. The state government had not issued a detailed response to the BJP's criticism in the reports.