An ex-Jehovah’s Witness is in custody after claiming in a Facebook video that he was behind Sunday’s deadly massive blasts at a gathering of the Christian group in India.
Dominic Martin surrendered to cops after posting the footage online saying he was responsible for the explosions at the Zamra International Convention Center in Kerala in southern India that killed at least two people and left dozens more injured.
Authorities said the carnage was caused by improvised explosive devices and that the 36 people hurt include a severely burned 12-year-old girl who remains in critical condition.
“I am taking full responsibility for this,” Marin said during his 6-minute Facebook video, which has since been removed.
“I carried out the bomb explosion,” he said. “I am making this video to make it clear why I did this.”
Martin claimed Jehovah’s Witnesses were “anti-national” and said he tried to convince the group to change its views.
“Dominic is still being questioned in Kochi,” local police spokesman Pramod Kumar said. “He is in our custody, but we have not recorded his arrest so far.
“We are still trying to ascertain the veracity of his statement,” Kumar said. “It will take some time. We are not in a position to confirm his involvement in the case right now. [The] investigation is ongoing.”
“The explosions occurred seconds after the second prayer as part of the day’s event,” Sreekumar told reporters. “The first blast took place in the middle of the hall. Seconds later, two more explosions rocked simultaneously on either side of the hall.”
About 2,300 Jehovah’s Witnesses attended the three-day event at the convention center, but TA Sreekumar, a rep for the group, told Reuters that Martin was not registered to attend.
Jehovah’s Witnesses is an international Christian group founded in the US around 1870 and is best known for it’s door-to-door evangelism. There are about 60,000 followers in India.