In its first breakthrough in Bengaluru’s Rameshwaram Cafe blast case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a key conspirator following raids across multiple locations in three states. Muzammil Shareef was picked up and placed in custody as a co-conspirator, the NIA said in a press release on Thursday.
“Muzammil Shareef was picked up and placed in custody as a co-conspirator after NIA teams cracked down at 18 locations, including 12 in Karnataka, 5 in Tamil Nadu and one in Uttar Pradesh. NIA investigations have revealed that Shareef had extended logistic support to the other two identified accused in the case…Various digital devices were seized during the searches, along with cash,” the Central probe agency said in a statement.
NIA, which took over the case on March 3, had earlier identified the main accused, Mussavir Shazeeb Hussain, who had carried out the blast. It had also identified another conspirator, Abdul Matheen Taha, who is also wanted by the agency in other cases. Both the men are on the run.
The investigations revealed that Muzammil Shareef had extended logistic support to the other two identified accused in the case, involving an IED explosion at the Café located at ITPL road, Brookefield, Bengaluru, on March 1. Several customers and hotel staff members were injured, some of them grievously, in the blast, which caused extensive damage to the property.
Shazeeb and Taha are the alleged founding members of an Islamic State module that germinated in the Thirthahalli region of Shivamogga around 2016. Taha first appeared on the radar of agencies in January 2020 in connection with an IS radicalisation case registered in Bengaluru.
Shareef’s arrest comes after NIA teams raided 18 locations, including 12 in Karnataka, five in Tamil Nadu, and one in Uttar Pradesh. Searches were also conducted in Karnataka’s Mandya, Chikamagalur, and Bengaluru with one person from Chikmagalur being summoned by the NIA for further questioning.
Various digital devices were seized during the searches, along with cash, the press release read. Efforts are on to nab the absconding accused and unearth the larger conspiracy behind the blast, it added.
