BALLARI/BENGALURU: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the Rameshwaram Cafe blast case has taken two persons into custody after they were found talking to the accused who arrived in Ballari from Bengaluru.
It has also taken a terror suspect, who was arrested earlier and was lodged in prison, into custody on a body warrant. Meanwhile, Bengaluru police have picked up a man whom the bomber met after planting the IED in the cafe.
According to sources, the accused landed in Ballari the same day after the blast. The NIA released the footage of the bomber roaming around in Ballari bus stand on the night of March 1. The NIA has been following the accused after his footage was obtained from the cafe in Bengaluru. A team of 10 NIA sleuths arrived in Ballari on Wednesday. The CCTV footage from Ballari bus stand shows that the accused spent at least two hours there. In another footage, he is seen speaking to two persons outside the bus stand.
Meanwhile, a police team launched a search in Ballari on Friday. The team visited some houses, shops and places of worship to gather information, while the NIA sleuths quizzed the two detained persons. Soon after the NIA team landed in Ballari, the district remained on high alert. The accused might be travelling without using his mobile phone. The police suspect that someone in Ballari could be helping the accused.
In one of the clippings, the accused is seen running behind a bus, but not getting into it.
Meanwhile, the NIA sleuths obtained a body warrant from the NIA Special Court and took into custody Minaj alias Mohammed Suliaman, 26, a cloth vendor from Ballari and a prime suspect in the ISIS-inspired Ballari module case. The investigators suspect links between Minaj and the cafe bomber.
The Bengaluru police are questioning the person whom the cafe bomber is said to have met on the day of the blast. It is still not known if the person is an associate of the bomber or if it was a ploy by the bomber to mislead the investigation.
