MANGALURU: The Mangaluru City police interrogated Mohammed Shariq, the prime accused in the November 19 bomb blast in the coastal city, for several hours and gathered several crucial information about his activities, prior to handing over the case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday. Mangaluru City Police Commissioner N Shashi Kumar told the media that the case was handed over to the NIA on Thursday morning.
“Prior to this, we received a nod from the doctors of Fr Muller’s Hospital, who are treating Shariq, to interrogate him. We posed over 100 questions to him and he has answered them. Since he has over 40% burn injuries, doctors have suggested rest for the accused.
We cannot force him now as burn injuries often lead to serious secondary infections,” he said. He added that Purushottam Poojary, the autorickshaw driver who was also injured in the blast, is out of the ventilator and has been shifted to a special ward where he will be monitored by doctors. However, the commissioner refused to divulge any details of the interrogation.
The FIR registered by the NIA states that they recovered a 5-litre pressure cooker, 3 nine volt batteries, a damaged circuit and other material required to prepare an IED. Meanwhile, VHP and Bajrang Dal have urged the president of Mangaluru Advocates Association not to appear for Shariq and his accomplices.