NIA to take over Bengaluru's Rameshwaram Cafe bomb blast case

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) handed over the case to the NIA, and the officials will handle the case starting from Monday.

The National Investigation Agency will take over Bengaluru's Rameshwaram cafe blast incident that shook the IT capital on Friday. Bengaluru Police and Central Crime Branch were investigating this low intensity bomb blast at a popular eatery in Whitefield and no arrests have been made yet.

Rameshwaram cafe blast site, in Bengaluru. (PTI)

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) handed over the case to the NIA, and the officials will handle the case starting from Monday. At least 10 people were injured in the incident, and all are currently being treated at multiple private hospitals. The Karnataka government has already announced that the state will take care of the treatment of those injured.

CM Siddaramaiah also inspected the blast site and met the injured at the hospital. He even chaired a high-level meeting with all senior officials and directed them to conduct a fair investigation into the case.

According to the CCTV footage, the suspect has been identified as 28 to 30 years old. He came to the cafe during lunch and bought a coupon for Rava idli but left the cafe without having the idli. He left behind the bag with an IED. Bengaluru police also released the snapshots from CCTV footage where his face was covered with a mask and a cap.

The co-founder and CEO of the Rameshwaram Cafe, Raghavendra Rao, said that the Union government and the state government should ensure that such incidents do not happen in the future and called for strict action. He also refuted the business rivalry angle and said there is no chance of anyone doing such a harmful activity within the business circle.

Meanwhile, the opposition attacked the Siddaramaiah-led government and said that the facts about the bomb blast are being hidden. On Sunday, leader of Opposition R Ashoka said, “The Congress government is only trying to hide facts in the Rameshwaram cafe incident. The government did not reveal even a single piece of information about the culprits. They are trying to change the FSL report. This happened also in the incident where ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were raised in Vidhana Soudha.”