Three days after a massive crackdown across four states in connection with the Bengaluru Rameshwaram Cafe blast, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday arrested one more accused, identified as an ex-convict in a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror conspiracy case.
Thirty-five-year-old Shoaib Ahmed Mirza alias Chhotu, a resident of Hubballi city in Karnataka, is the fifth accused to be arrested in the case.
“NIA investigations revealed that Mirza, who was convicted earlier in an LeT Bengaluru conspiracy case, had got involved in this fresh conspiracy after being released from jail. In 2018, he had befriended and introduced accused Abdul Matheen Taha to an online handler suspected to be abroad,” the NIA said. “Mirza had further provided an e-mail ID for encrypted communication between the handler and Abdul Matheen Taha, who was arrested earlier on 12th April from his hideout in Kolkata (West Bengal) along with co-accused Mussavir Hussain Shazib.”
In its investigation into the March 1 Rameshwaram Cafe blast, the NIA has so far conducted extensive searches at 29 locations across India.
Further investigations into the role of the handler and the larger conspiracy behind the blast, which left several injured and caused extensive damage to property, are continuing, the agency said.
The NIA on Tuesday cracked down on multiple locations in four states as part of its efforts to uncover the entire conspiracy behind the blast and to identify the other conspirators involved in handling the accused from abroad.
In a coordinated action, NIA teams searched 11 locations in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh. Extensive searches were conducted at the premises linked with 11 suspects in the case, in which an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion at the café on ITPL Road in Bengaluru had left several customers and staff members injured and also caused massive damage to property.
The NIA had taken over the case (RC-01/2024/NIA/BLR) from Karnataka state police on March 3, and had arrested two accused, Mussavir Hussain Shazib and Abdul Matheen Taha, from their hideout in West Bengal on April 12, after a nationwide hunt. The duo, both residents of Thirthahalli town in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district, were identified as the perpetrator and the mastermind of the attack.
The 11 suspects whose premises were searched include individuals convicted in the 2012 LeT conspiracy case of Bengaluru and Hubballi districts.
The targeted searches led to the seizure of various digital devices and documents, which the NIA is examining exhaustively, said the agency.
Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website
Comments
0 comment