BENGALURU: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday chargesheeted four accused in the Rameshwaram Cafe blast case. Mussavir Hussain Shazib, Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taaha, Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef, who are in judicial custody, have been charge-sheeted under IPC, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UA(P)A, Explosive Substances Act (ESA) and the Prevention of Destruction & Loss (PDLP) Act. Nine people were injured in the IED explosion on March 1 at the cafe in Brookfield, ITPL, Bengaluru.
Accused funded by handlers with crypto currencies
Investigations revealed that Shazib planted the bomb at the cafe. He and Taaha had been absconding since 2020 after the Al-Hind module was busted. Extensive searches by NIA led to their arrest in West Bengal, 42 days after the cafe blast, the agency stated in a press release.
Shazib and Taaha, who hail from Shivamogga district, were ISIS radicals and had planned to move to ISIS territories in Syria. They were actively involved in radicalising gullible Muslim youth. Ahmed and Shareef were among such youth, the release said.
“Taaha and Shazib used fraudulently obtained Indian SIM cards and Indian bank accounts, besides various Indian and Bangladeshi identity documents downloaded from the Dark Web. Taaha was introduced by an ex-convict, Shoaib Ahmed Mirza, to Mohammed Shaheed Faisal, an absconder in the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT) Bengaluru conspiracy case. Taaha then introduced Faisal, his handler, to Mehaboob Pasha, an accused in the Al-Hind ISIS module case, and to Khaja Mohideen, Amir of ISIS South India, and later to Ahmed,” the release said.
“Taaha and Shazib were funded by their handler through crypto currencies, which Taaha converted to Fiat with the help of Telegram-based P2P platforms. The funds were used by the accused to perpetrate various acts of violence in Bengaluru, including a failed IED attack at the state BJP office in Malleswaram on the day of ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony in Ayodhya (January 22). After this, the two key accused planned the cafe blast,” the release said.