NIA files charges against four persons in connection with the Rameshwaram Cafe blast in Bengaluru

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday booked four accused in the Rameshwaram Cafe blast case in Bengaluru. The accused – Mussavir Hussain Shazib, Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taaha, Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef – were arrested earlier and are currently in judicial custody, the NIA said in a statement.

Taaha and Shazib were funded by their handler through cryptocurrencies, it was alleged. The funds were used by the accused to commit various violent acts in Bengaluru, NIA investigations revealed.

“These included a failed IED attack on the state BJP office in Malleshwaram, Bengaluru, on the day of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22, after which the two main accused had planned the blast at Rameshwaram cafe,” the statement said. The chargesheet was filed in a special NIA court in Bengaluru.

“In the IED blast that occurred at Rameshwaram Cafe, Brookfield, ITPL Bengaluru on March 1 this year, nine persons were injured and the hotel building was badly damaged. The NIA, which began investigating the case on March 3, conducted several technical and field investigations in coordination with various state police forces and other agencies.

“Investigations revealed that Shazib was the man who planted the bomb. He had been absconding along with Taaha since 2020 after the Al-Hind module was blown up,” the NIA statement said. Extensive searches by the NIA led to their arrest from their hideout in West Bengal 42 days after the Rameshwaram Cafe blast.

“The two men, hailing from Shivamogga district of Karnataka, were ISIS radicals, the investigating agency said. They were actively involved in radicalising other gullible Muslim youths to ISIS ideology and Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef were among these youths. “Taaha and Shazib had used fraudulently obtained Indian SIM cards and Indian bank accounts and had also used various Indian and Bangladeshi identity documents which they had downloaded from the dark web,” the statement said.

Investigations also revealed that Taaha was introduced to Mohammed Shaheed Faisal, a fugitive in the LeT Bengaluru conspiracy case, by a former inmate, Shoaib Ahmed Mirza. Taaha introduced Faisal, his superior, then Mehaboob Pasha, an accused in the Al-Hind ISIS module case, and Khaja Mohideen, the Amir of ISIS South India, and later to Maaz Muneer Ahmed, the NIA said.