ISIS connection in Rameswaram cafe blast case
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet against 4 people in the Rameswaram cafe blast case in Bengaluru. The NIA took this action on Monday while speeding up its investigation. The accused have been identified as Musavir Hussain Shajib, Abdul Mathin Ahmed Taha, Maaz Munir Ahmed and Muzammil Sharif.
All four accused in judicial custody
The NIA has filed a chargesheet against all the four accused under sections of the IPC, UA(P) Act, Explosive Substances Act and PDLP Act. All the four were arrested earlier. Currently, all the accused are in judicial custody.
Nine people were injured in the IED blast at Rameswaram Cafe, Brookfield, ITPL Bengaluru on March 1 this year. The hotel property was severely damaged. The NIA had taken up the investigation into the case on March 3. The NIA had then conducted several technical and field investigations in coordination with various state police forces and other agencies.
Shajib had made the bomb
The NIA investigation revealed that Shajib was the person who planted the bomb. He and Abdul Mathin Ahmed Taha had already fled after 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.
Both the accused were ISIS fanatics
Both the accused, hailing from Shivamogga district of Karnataka, were ISIS radicals. Both of them had earlier conspired to undertake Hijra (a religious journey) to ISIS areas in Syria. They were actively involved in radicalising other naïve Muslim youths towards the ISIS ideology. Maaz Munir Ahmed and Muzammil Sharif were among such youths.
Taha and Shajib used SIM cards and bank accounts
Taha and Shajib had used fraudulently obtained Indian SIM cards and Indian bank accounts. They also used various Indian and Bangladeshi identity documents downloaded from the dark web. Investigation further revealed that Taha was introduced to Mohammed Shahid Faisal by former convict Shoaib Ahmed Mirza, who is absconding in the Lashkar-e-Taiba Bengaluru conspiracy case.
Connection of the ISIS module
Taha then introduced Faisal, his handler, to Mehboob Pasha, an accused in the Al-Hind ISIS module case, and Khaja Mohideen, Ameer of ISIS South India, and later to Maaz Munir Ahmed. Taha and Shajib were provided funds through crypto currency by their handler.
There was a conspiracy to attack the BJP office in Bengaluru as well
The investigation further revealed that the accused used this fund to carry out several types of violence in Bengaluru. This included an attempt to blast an IED at the BJP state office in Malleswaram, Bengaluru on the day of the Prana Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22, 2024, which failed. After this, the two main accused planned the Rameswaram cafe blast. The investigation in this case is still going on.
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