NEW DELHI: Three days after a massive crackdown across four southern states in connection with its probe into the Rameshwaram Café blast case, the NIA on Friday arrested one more accused, identified as an ex-convict in a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror conspiracy case, officials said.
35-year-old Shoaib Ahmed Mirza alias Chhotu, a resident of Hubbali City, Karnataka, is the fifth accused to be arrested in connection with the case.
In its investigation, the anti-terror federal probe agency found that Mirza, who was convicted earlier in a LeT Bengaluru conspiracy case, had got involved in this fresh conspiracy after being released from jail, the officials said.
“In 2018, he had befriended and introduced accused Abdul Matheen Taha to an online handler suspected to be abroad. Mirza had further provided an e-mail ID for encrypted communication between the handler and Abdul Matheen Taha, who was arrested earlier on April 12 from his hideout in Kolkata (West Bengal) along with co-accused Mussavir Hussain Shazib,” a senior NIA official said.
During the course of its investigation into the Rameshwaram Café blast, which took place on March 1, 2024, the NIA has so far conducted extensive searches at 29 locations across India.
The officials said that further investigations into the role of handler and larger conspiracy behind the blast, which left several persons injured and caused extensive damage to property, are continuing.