look news india
New Delhi, September 09 (HS). The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday filed a chargesheet against four accused in the Bengaluru Rameswaram cafe blast case. All four were arrested earlier and are currently in judicial custody. This information was given by the NIA.
The NIA has identified the accused as Musavir Hussain Shajib, Abdul Mathin Ahmed Taha, Maaz Munir Ahmed and Muzammil Sharif. These accused have been chargesheeted under relevant sections of the IPC, UA(P) Act, Explosive Substances Act and PDLP Act. The investigation in this case is still going on.
According to the NIA, nine people were injured and the hotel property was damaged in an IED blast at Rameswaram Cafe, Brookfield, ITPL Bangalore on March 1 this year. The NIA started investigating the case on March 3 and gathered information in coordination with various state police forces and other agencies.
The NIA investigation revealed that Shajib was the person who planted the bomb. He and Taha had already fled since the Al-Hind module was busted in 2020. They were arrested from their hideout in West Bengal 42 days after the Rameswaram cafe blast following an extensive search conducted by the NIA.
According to the NIA, both these persons hailing from Shivamogga district of Karnataka were radicals of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and were earlier actively involved in radicalising innocent Muslim youths towards ISIS ideology in ISIS areas in Syria. Maaz Munir Ahmed and Muzammil Sharif are among those youths.
According to the NIA, Taha and Shajib fraudulently obtained Indian SIM cards and used Indian bank accounts and various Indian and Bangladeshi identity documents downloaded from the dark web.
The NIA investigation further revealed that Taha was introduced by former convict Shoaib Ahmad Mirza to Mohammed Shahid Faisal, who is absconding in the Lashkar-e-Taiba Bengaluru conspiracy case. Taha then introduced Faisal to his handler Mehboob Pasha, an accused in the Al-Hind ISIS module case, and ISIS South India Ameer Khaja Mohideen, and later to Maaz Munir Ahmad.
Taha and Shajib were funded by their handlers through crypto currency. The accused used these funds to carry out various incidents of violence in Bengaluru. This included an IED attack on the BJP state office in Malleswaram, Bengaluru on the day of the Prana Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22, 2024. After failing in this attack, the two main accused planned the blast at the Rameswaram cafe.