The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a member of the DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu, has constructed a house for the family of Abdul Ozir – a convict in the 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blasts who died while serving a life sentence in Coimbatore Central Jail.
The house was built under IUML’s internal charity programme, the Baithur Rahma Irayarul Thittam, and was inaugurated by the Indian Union Muslim League State General Secretary and Legislative Party Leader K.A.M. Muhammad Abubacker. The league publicly shared photographs of the house handover on its official social media handles, describing it as a welfare gesture for a needy family.
Who Was Abdul Ozir?
Abdul Ozir was an operative of Al-Umma, the Coimbatore-based Islamist outfit that carried out the deadliest act of terrorism in Tamil Nadu’s history. On 14 February 1998, the day BJP leader L.K. Advani was scheduled to address a rally in the city, Al-Umma detonated a series of improvised explosive devices across Coimbatore in quick succession, killing 58 people and injuring over 250 others. The blasts targeted Hindu religious congregations and public spaces and were designed to maximise civilian casualties.
Ozir was arrested shortly after the blasts and stood trial before a special court. He received four life sentences – the stiffest punishment handed to any convict in the case, surpassing even that of Al-Umma founder and mastermind SA Basha. He was convicted on charges including criminal conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder, and planting explosives. He died of a cardiac arrest inside Coimbatore Central Jail in October 2016, still serving his sentence.
What the Victims Got
The contrast is stark. The 58 families who lost their loved ones in the blasts received a one-time solatium of ₹1 lakh each, announced by the then AIADMK government under J Jayalalithaa, of which only ₹3.15 crore out of the announced ₹4.92 crore was actually disbursed. No rehabilitation package, no pension, no housing scheme, and no sustained government support followed – from any government, in the 28 years since.
Meanwhile, IUML in 2020 chose to build a full house for the family of the man who received the harshest conviction in the very same case.
The IUML’s welfare gesture comes at a politically significant moment. The party signed a formal seat-sharing agreement with DMK in February 2026, securing two assembly constituencies for the upcoming Tamil Nadu elections. It will contest under the DMK alliance. The IUML has been a long-standing partner of the DMK, and its leaders have maintained direct access to the state government throughout the current DMK tenure.
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