Rameshwaram Cafe blast: NIA files chargesheet against four accused

New Delhi: Moving swiftly in its probe, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday chargesheeted four accused in the high-profile Bengaluru Rameshwaram Café blast case.

The accused, identified as Mussavir Hussain Shazib, Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taaha, Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef, have been chargesheeted under relevant sections of the IPC, UA(P) Act, Explosive Substances Act and PDLP Act. All four were earlier arrested and are currently in judicial custody in the case.

The IED explosion, which took place on March 1 this year at the Rameshwaram Café, Brookfield, ITPL Bengaluru, had left nine persons injured and extensively damaged the hotel property.

NIA investigation

NIA, which started 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 investigations revealed that Shazib was the man 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 café explosion.

The two men, hailing from Shivamogga District of Karnataka, were ISIS radicals and had earlier conspired to do Hijrah to ISIS territories in Syria. They were actively involved in radicalising other gullible Muslim youth to the ISIS ideology, and Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef were among such youth.

Modus operandi

Taaha and Shazib had fraudulently obtained Indian SIM cards and Indian bank accounts and also used various Indian and Bangladeshi Identity documents downloaded from the Dark Web. Investigations further revealed that Taaha had been introduced by an 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 ISIS module case, and to Khaja Mohideen, Amir of ISIS South India, and later also to Maaz Muneer Ahmed.

Taaha and Shazib were funded by their handler through cryptocurrencies, which Taaha converted to Fiat with the help of various Telegram-based P2P platforms. The funds were used by the accused to perpetrate various acts of violence in Bengaluru, investigations further revealed. These included a failed IED attack at the State BJP Office, Malleshwaram, Bengaluru, on the day of Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ayodhya on 22nd January 2024, after which the two key accused had planned the Rameshwaram café blast.

Investigations in the case are continuing.