B’luru cafe blast accused planned to target K’taka BJP HQ on Jan 22, reveals NIA
Bengaluru: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday filed a chargesheet against four accused in connection with the blast at the Rameshwaram Cafe here on March 1. The chargesheet mentioned that the accused planned to carry out an IED blast at the Karnataka BJP headquarters on the day of Pran Pratishtha ceremony (January 22) of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya but failed to do so.
Four accused — Mussavir Hussain Shazib, Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taaha, Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef — have been charged under sections of IPC, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) UA (P) Act, Explosive Substances Act and The Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act (PDLP) Act.
“Taaha and Shazib were funded by their handler through cryptocurrencies, which Taaha converted through Faisal with the help of various Telegram-based platforms,” the NIA chargesheet read.
The funds were used by the accused to perpetrate various acts of violence in Bengaluru, the investigation further revealed. These included a ‘failed’ IED attack at the Karnataka BJP office in Malleshwaram, Bengaluru, on the day of Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ayodhya on January 22, after which the Bengaluru cafe blast was planned.
All the four accused have been arrested, and are currently in judicial custody in connection with the Bengaluru Cafe blast case. The IED explosion, which took place on March 1 this year at the Rameshwaram Cafe in Brookfield, Bengaluru, had left nine persons injured besides causing damage to the interior and infrastructure at the hotel.
The NIA, which began an investigation into the case on March 3, conducted several technical and field investigations in coordination with various state police forces and other agencies.
The investigation revealed that Shazib was the one who had planted the bomb. He, along with Taaha, had previously been absconding since 2020 after the Al-Hind module was busted.
Extensive searches by the NIA had led to their arrest from their hideout in West Bengal 42 days after the Rameshwaram Cafe explosion. The two men, hailing from Shivamogga district of Karnataka, are IS radicals, and had earlier conspired to do ‘Hijrah’ (trip) to IS territories in Syria, the NIA stated.
They were actively involved in radicalising other gullible Muslim youth to the IS ideology, and Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef were among such youth.
Taaha and Shazib had used fraudulently-obtained Indian SIM cards and Indian bank accounts, and also used various Indian and Bangladeshi documents downloaded from the Dark Web.
