Café blast suspects tried triggering IED blast at BJP office: NIA

SLUG: NIA chargesheet

Bengaluru: The suspects, who allegedly triggered an explosion in the Rameshwaram Café in Whitefield on March 1, 2024 injuring nine people, first attempted to trigger an IED blast at BJP’s state headquarters in Malleswaram but failed, says the chargesheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday before a special court here.

Sources privy to the investigation said two of the cafe blast suspects — Mussavir Hussain Shazib and Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taaha — had taken the IED to the Malleswaram BJP office on a bike on the day of Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya on Jan 22 this year but returned as they could not execute their plans. The duo planned to target Rameshwaram Café after their first attempt failed, sources added.

The chargesheet is the first one filed by the NIA in the cafe blast case in which Mussavir Hussain Shazib, Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taaha, Maaz Muneer Ahmed, and Muzammil Shareef have been arrested.

They have been chargesheeted under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention Act), Explosive Substances Act, and Prevention of Destruction and Loss to Public Property Act. Running into about 1,700 pages, the chargesheet contains statements from 429 witnesses.

Special public prosecutor P Prasanna Kumar told the court that the chargesheet is attached with original documents and evidence material, including electronic gadgets seized from the suspects.

“The IED explosion, which took place on March 1 this year at the Rameswaram Café, Brookfield, ITPL Bengaluru, had left nine people injured and damaged the hotel property. NIA, which took up the case on March 3, conducted several technical and field investigations in coordination with various state police forces and other agencies. Shazib had planted the bomb. He, along with Taaha, had 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 explosion,” a release stated.

According to NIA, the two men, hailing from Shivamogga district in Karnataka, were IS radicals and had earlier conspired to migrate to Syria. “They were actively involved in radicalising gullible Muslim youths to the IS ideology, and Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef were among them,” it added.

“Taaha and Shazib 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. Taaha had been introduced by 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 IS module case, and to Khaja Mohideen, Amir of IS South India, and later also to Maaz Muneer Ahmed,” NIA stated.

Taaha and Shazib were funded by their handler through cryptocurrencies, which the former converted to fiat currency with the help of various Telegram-based P2P platforms. The funds were used by the accused to perpetrate various acts of violence in Bengaluru.