BENGALURU: A day after arresting Muzammil Shareef -- the key conspirator in The Rameshwaram Cafe blast case -- the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday issued photographs and details of the main accused, Mussavir Hussain Shazib (30), and another key conspirator, Abdul Matheen Taha (30), and also announced Rs 10 lakh reward for credible information leading to the arrest of each.
Shazib alias Shazeb alias Md Juned Hussain alias Mohammed Juned Sayed is a resident of Masjid Road, Thirthahalli, Shivamogga. “He is fair, tall and has a gym-type body. He has been using forged driving licence in the name of Mohammed Juned Sayed or other similar forged ID documents to conceal his identity. His preferred clothing is jeans and T-shirts, wears a black smart watch, mask, wig and fake beard. Shazib stays in boys hostels, PG accomodations and low-budget hotels and lodgings,” the NIA has stated.
On Taha, the NIA stated that he uses Hindu names like Vignesh and Sumit; is medium built and bald from front. “He prefers wearing jeans, T-shirt, caps, hoodies, mask and fake beard. Taha also stays in men’s hostels and low-budget accomodations,” NIA stated. This is the second time that the NIA has announced a bounty on Taha. In May 2020, the Central agency had 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.
The Bengaluru-based Al Hind IS module, which is active in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, was allegedly put together by Mehboob Pasha, a resident of Gurappana Palya, Bengaluru and Khaja Moideen, a resident of Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, who are accused in some murder cases of Hindutva leaders in Tamil Nadu.
Taha close aide of cooker blast accused
The module was busted by NIA in 2020 and chargesheets were filed in 2021, in which the agency had alleged that the terror module wanted to establish an IS province inside the jungles of South India. Taha is allegedly a close associate of Mohd Shariq -- the main accused in the pressure cooker blast case in Mangaluru in November 2022.
Meanwhile, Shazib and Taha, who are from Thirthahalli, reportedly also have links with Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Syed Yasin, the two engineering graduates, who were arrested by the Shivamogga police on September 23, 2022 in connection with the stabbing incident during communal clashes over the unveiling of poster of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in Shivamogga on August 15, 2022. Ahmed and Yasin reportedly have links with the IS module and had conducted trial bomb blasts along the banks of Tungabhadra river.
Dossier unearthed by Shivamogga cops had details of terror module
A dossier of a terror module unearthed by the Shivamogga police in September 2022 and sent to the Central Intelligence agencies reportedly had given extensive details on the recruitment, financing, indoctrination and training of this module for terrorist activities by a foreign handler. Many members of this alleged module were suspected to be from Thirthahalli in Shivamogga. Some of them were said to be engineering graduates. The handler had reportedly used crypto currency to finance the module.
