Ebin Paul (in picture), is accused of setting the nursery on fire.
Police have invoked provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), including Sections 15 and 18, relating to terrorist acts and conspiracy, respectively, against Ebin Paul, who is accused of setting fire to the nursery.
“In this context, it is being seriously investigated whether there were international terrorist links or organised planning behind the incident,” the police statement said. Police had also said they had found visuals allegedly linked to reconnaissance, the nursery fire and practice runs before the incident. KOCHI: The fire at a horticulture nursery near the Kadavumbhagam Synagogue in Kochi is being investigated as a possible test run for a wider terror plot, with police examining communications that refer to Jewish places of worship and attacks in several cities across the country. Police are examining whether the incident was linked to international terrorist networks or organised planning involving multiple locations. Three other incidents, suspected to have been practice runs, were registered in Ernakulam rural, while the commissioner described the Kochi case as part of a combination of four incidents in the district. Police are examining whether the nursery fire was an isolated act or part of a coordinated plan involving targets in multiple cities and states, including Jewish places of worship. Police have not publicly established that an organised terror network directed the fire or that attacks on the other sites were imminent. The investigation is on to determine the extent of the alleged conspiracy and the accused’s role in it.