Bengaluru blast suspect changed clothes, travelled by bus: Karnataka Home Minister
BENGALURU: Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Thursday said sleuths investigating the blast at the city's popular eatery 'The Rameshwaram Cafe' last week have certain "good leads", as the prime suspect changed his clothes after the incident and travelled by bus.
He said the suspect is said to have travelled towards the district headquarters town of Tumakuru by bus after the explosion, and officials are following the leads and verifying his movement until Ballari.
An investigation into the March 1 blast, caused by an improvised explosive device, at the quick-service eatery in Brookfield area in the information technology corridor in east Bengaluru that left ten people injured is being carried out by the National Investigation Agency, which is being assisted by the Central Crime Branch of the Bengaluru police.
"We have got more important leads as to the direction in which he (suspect) has gone and him having changed his clothes. Some information cannot be revealed. We have gotten good leads in the last couple of days. I feel that he will be nabbed at the earliest," Parameshwara told reporters.
"It is known that he has travelled by bus; based on those leads, officials are following up. They have got important leads," he said, adding that there are leads that the suspect travelled towards Tumakuru by bus and officials were investigating it.
"Officials have checked the footage; they have certain leads. They are verifying from here until Ballari," he added.
Meanwhile, new video footage of the suspect with a backpack, wearing a full-sleeved shirt, cap, facemask, and spectacles, moving in the bus has surfaced. From the video, it seems that the suspect, after noticing the camera in the bus, moved in a direction where it did not cover him.
Also, an unverified photograph of the suspect wearing a T-shirt, without a face mask, cap or spectacles, sitting inside the bus is also doing the rounds.
The NIA has announced a Rs 10 lakh cash reward for information about the bomber.