Rameshwaram Café blast duo attempted to bomb BJP office on Pran Pratishtha Day: NIA
The National Investigation Agency revealed the details of conspiracy behind the Rameshwaram Cafe blast as the agency filed its first charge sheet in the case on Monday
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the March 1 blast at Bengaluru’s Rameshwaram Cafe has revealed that two main accused - main planner Abdul Matheen Taha and bomber Mussavir Hussain Shazib - were also behind a failed improvised explosive device (IED) attack at the State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office in Malleshwaram, Bengaluru, on the day of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ayodhya on January 22, the agency said on Monday.
After this failed attempt, the duo then carried out the Rameshwaram Cafe blast on March 1, in which nine people were injured.
The agency revealed the details of conspiracy as it filed its first charge sheet in Rameshwaram Cafe blast on Monday, naming Taha, Shazib and two others - Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef.
The federal agency has also identified one Mohammad Shaheed Faisal, an absconder in a previous Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Bengaluru conspiracy case of 2012, as their “handler”, who was giving them directions and funding.
“Moving swiftly in its probe, the NIA on Monday chargesheeted four accused in the high-profile Bengaluru Rameshwaram Café blast case,” said a NIA spokesperson in a statement.
The bomb went off at the busy Rameswaram Cafe on March 1 prompting a multi-agency probe. A preliminary investigation zeroed in on a man who left an unidentified bag near the cash counter. The CCTV footage showed the suspect, now identified as Shazib, carrying a backpack, wearing a full-sleeved shirt, cap, facemask, and spectacles, travelling in a bus in Tumakuru on the day of blast.
NIA statement said that after taking over probe on March 3, it conducted several technical and field investigation in coordination with various state police forces and other agencies.
Shazib, it said, along with Taha, had previously been absconding since 2020 after the Al-Hind module was busted. They were arrested from West Bengal after 42 days of chase.
The Al-Hind 20 member module of ISIS, led by Bengaluru-based Mehboob Pasha and Cuddalore-based Khaja Moideen, which operated from the Al-Hind Trust office of Pasha in Guruppanpalya, Bengaluru, had planned to establish ISIS Daishwilayah (province) inside the jungles of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. To understand how to survive inside the deep forest, they even bought books on famous sandalwood smuggler Veerappan. Their plan was to target/murder Hindu religious and political leaders, police officers, government officials and some high-profile individuals all over India and then retreat to the forest without getting noticed, NIA said in its charge sheet against 17 members of Al-Hind module in July 2020.
Sharing further details on Rameshwaram Café blast, NIA said on Monday that Taha and Shazib “were ISIS radicals and had earlier conspired to do Hijrah to ISIS territories in Syria.”
“They were actively involved in radicalizing other gullible Muslim youth to the ISIS ideology, and Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef were among such youth. They had used fraudulently obtained Indian SIM cards and Indian bank accounts, and also used various Indian and Bangladeshi Identity documents downloaded from the Dark Web. Investigations further revealed that Taha had been introduced by an ex-convict, Shoaib Ahmed Mirza, to Mohammed Shaheed Faisal, an absconder in the LeT Bengaluru conspiracy case. Taaha then introduced Faisal, his handler, to Mehaboob Pasha, an accused in the Al-Hind ISIS module case, and to Khaja Mohideen, Amir of ISIS South India, and later also to Maaz Muneer Ahmed,” the spokesperson added.
The duo, the agency said, was funded by their handler through crypto currencies, which Taaha converted to Fiat with the help of various Telegram based P2P platforms.
“The funds were used by the accused to perpetrate various acts of violence in Bengaluru, investigations further revealed. These included a failed IED attack at the State BJP Office, Malleshwaram, Bengaluru, on the day of Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ayodhya on January 22, after which the two key accused had planned the Rameshwaram café blast,” NIA said.
So far, five persons - Taha (the main planner), Mussavir Hussain Shazib (the bomber), Muzammil Shareef (who provided logistics like SIM, cellphones etc), Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Shoaib Ahmed Mirza – have been arrested in the case.
HT had reported a few weeks ago that NIA will soon file a charge sheet in Rameshwaram Café blast probe.
It is also in the process of sending a formal request to get details on the handler, who has been identified as Faisal. It is suspected that he may be operating from the UAE.