An arrest has been made in India in connection with a series of explosions at a Jehovah’s Witness assembly in the southern state of Kerala.
Three people were murdered and more than 50 were injured in the bombings during a Christian-based religious movement event on Sunday.
Dominic Martin, according to police, was arrested under an anti-terrorism law.
He had previously posted a video in which he claimed responsibility for the attacks and surrendered to authorities.
The explosions occurred on the final day of a Jehovah’s Witness prayer session in Kalamassery, around 10 kilometers (six miles) north-east of Kochi (Cochin). Over 2,000 people attended the three-day event.
According to TA Sreekumar, a regional spokeswoman for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the initial explosion occurred in the middle of a hall, and two further explosions occurred seconds later on either side of the auditorium.
Two ladies who attended the gathering died on Sunday, while a 12-year-old girl with 95% burns died on Monday.
Mr Martin released a video on Facebook hours after the explosions, claiming to be a former Jehovah’s Witness who organized the bombings because he was upset with the group’s teachings. Mr Sreekumer, on the other hand, told Reuters that Mr Martin was “not a registered member.”
According to police, Mr Martin is from Kerala and formerly worked in Dubai.
“We are convinced that he committed the crime based on his confession and corroborating pieces of evidence that we collected,” Kochi city police commissioner A Akbar said on Monday.
Mr Martin, according to Mr Akbar, is cooperating with the police.
The explosions sent shockwaves throughout the country, and security was increased in Delhi, Mumbai, and other cities.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses are a religious sect that thinks orthodox Christian churches have departed from biblical teachings and that Armageddon is coming.
The group, which claims to have 8.7 million adherents globally and 60,000 in India, has a strong presence in Kerala and is noted for door-to-door evangelism in the state.
Queen Richard, a Jehovah’s Witness who was in the hall at the time of the explosion, claimed she initially thought the explosion was caused by a short circuit.
“As we closed our eyes and prayed, we heard that explosion in the center of the hall.” “There was a huge flame,” she added, adding that she and her disabled husband found it difficult to escape the hall.
“As soon as I got outside I fainted and fell down,” she recalled.
