BENGALURU: Abdul Matheen Taha, 30, the fugitive terror accused and allegedly the key conspirator in the Bengaluru cafe blast case, is reportedly at the centre of the conspiracy behind the March 1 IED blast.The National Investigation Agency (NIA) last weekend released photographs and details of the main accused, Mussavir Hussain Shazib, 30, and Taha and also announced Rs 10 lakh reward each for information leading to their arrest.
This is the second time that the NIA has announced a bounty on Taha. In May 2020, the central agency announced a reward of Rs 3 lakh on information leading to his arrest in the Al-Hind IS Bengaluru module case (RC-4/2020/NIA/DLI), which is said to be behind the murder of a Hindu leader in Tamil Nadu.
Taha is a graduate and originally from Chitradurga, but he moved from there to stay with his mother, who is from Thirthahalli. According to sources, he was radicalised by a handler, who is suspected to be overseas.
“He in turn allegedly radicalised around a dozen Muslim youth from Thirthahalli. Taha is allegedly at the centre of all terrorist activities in Karnataka since 2019, when ‘Al Hind IS’ - an ISIS-inspired-terror-group was reportedly formed by accused Mehboob Pasha of Bengaluru, Khaja Moideen alias Jalal of Cuddalore, TN, and their associates.
The module is said to be involved in the murder of the Hindu leader in Tamil Nadu. Taha has allegedly appeared as the common thread in the subsequent terrorist cases in Karnataka, from the Mangaluru terror graffiti case in November 2020; stabbing of Prem Singh in the communal clashes over the unveiling of a poster of Savarkar in Shivamogga on August 15, 2022; burning of the national flag in September 2022 near the Tungabhadra river and the pressure cooker blast in an autorickshaw in Mangaluru.
NIA in hot pursuit of key conspirator
It was earlier assumed that Arafath Ali from Shivamogga, who was arrested by the NIA soon after he landed in Delhi from Kenya in September last was the handler of the cooker blast accused, Mohammed Shariq. But investigations reportedly revealed that Shariq was introduced to the foreign handler by Taha,” said sources.
“The modus operandi in the tricolour burning case, Mangaluru cooker blast and cafe blast is the same. After burning the tricolour, the accused Syed Yasin, Maaz Munir Ahmed and Mohammed Shariq had uploaded the visual and sent it to the handler. For each task, the accused were given incentives ranging from Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000,” the sources said.
The NIA is hotly pursuing Taha and Shazib and has released CCTV footage of their movement in north Karnataka and TN. “Taha has been spotted in the CCTV footage in public places in both states. His movement shows that he may not have left the country. His arrest is important to unearth the terror module and the handler, who seems to be familiar with the topography of the state,” the sources said.
Thirthahalli, a small taluk in Shivamogga district, which is famous for stalwarts such as Kannada poet Kuvempu, Kadidal Manjappa, the third CM of Karnataka in 1956, and BJP leader and former home minister Araga Jnanendra, has come under the radar of the intelligence and law enforcement agencies following terrorist cases since 2019. Seven to eight terror accused have been found to belong to Thirthahalli. Sources told TNIE that they have all fled the taluk, leaving their families behind.
