A man identified as Dominic Martin, surrendered before Thrissur’s Kodakara police station claiming that he had set the bomb at the convention centre in Kochi where a prayer meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses was underway on Sunday morning.
The toll in the blasts rose to three after a 12-year-old succumbed to burn wounds in the aftermath of the blast. Earlier, a woman undergoing treatment for burns also succumbed to her injuries.
Over two thousand members of the Christian denomination Jehovah’s Witnesses were gathering for a prayer meeting during the blasts.
“The blast took place five minutes after the prayer session started. There was a series of blasts from the stage of the convention hall,” an eyewitness told the media.
The Kodakara police took Martin from Kochi for detailed interrogation in the presence of higher officials.
Hours before the blast, Dominic Martin, an estranged member of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who is in police custody, had posted a video on social media, on why resorted to the act.
He said in the video: “I take the responsibility for the blast. I am posting this video to convince you why I have done it. I had been a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses for the last 16 years. I was not very serious about my faith. I realized that their stand is anti-national and wanted them to rectify it. But they were not ready for it. I could understand this is a wrong ideology. They inject poison into the brains of children that they should not take even a sweet from others. They are asked not to sing the national anthem and join the defence service. They teach that all people of the world would perish and only they will live. What should we do with people who long for the ruin of the entire people in the world. I could not find a solution. I took the decision realizing that this idea is dangerous to the country. Jehovah’s Witnesses, your ideology is wrong. You should help others and respect others. During the floods, you cleaned only the houses of your members. This wrong ideology should be put to an end. The formula of the blast should not be revealed, it is dangerous.”
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called for an all-party meeting tomorrow. He had earlier said that the blasts are very unfortunate.
