Bengaluru Café Blast Accused Linked to 2022 Mangaluru, 2020 Graffiti, Al Hind Cases: Intel Sources | Exclusive

The two men arrested from West Bengal’s Digha in connection with Bengaluru’s Rameshwaram Café blast are linked to to the 2022 Mangaluru pressure cooker blast, 2020 pro-terror graffiti case and Al Hind case, according to top intelligence sources.

The NIA, central intelligence agencies and state police agencies of West Bengal, Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala coordinated to arrest Mussavir Hussain Shazib and Abdul Matheen Taahaa on Friday.

Shazib had placed the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at the cafe in Brookefield on March 1, which had a timer set for an hour, while Taahaa was the mastermind behind the planning and execution of the blast, officials said. Ten people were injured in the blast at the popular eatery in the area. The cafe reopened on March 15 with heightened security measures. The NIA tracked the pattern of Shazib and Taahaa for 42 days to achieve the breakthrough, according to sources. The NIA Special Court, Kolkata, where the two accused were produced after arrest, has granted three days transit remand to the agency.

“So far, detailed investigation has not been not done. But these are major arrests and we are hopeful that one major module has been busted," sources said.

THE LINK TO OTHER CASES

Taha was involved with the Bengaluru Module of ISIS — Al Hind, said sources.

The men are residents of Thirthahalli in Shivamogga district of Karnataka and are linked to the 2022 Mangaluru pressure cooker blast. “They are close friends of Mohammad Shariq, who was involved in the Mangaluru blast. They may have been planning to make one big IED and carry out a major blast. Their handler is foreign-based, who is hiding and funding them," sources said.

In November 2022, a crude bomb assembled in a pressure cooker accidentally went off when Shariq was transporting it in an autorickshaw. The blast took place just months before the assembly elections. Shariq, who also hailed from Teerthahalli, wanted to cause maximum impact with the use of a moving vehicle, investigators said.

Shariq was also directly involved in a pro-terror graffiti case in Mangaluru in November 2020, to which the two accused are also linked, said sources.

THE UMBRELLA GROUP

News18 had earlier reported how major terror organisations have come under one umbrella group. According to intel sources, agencies have almost destroyed major networks of Islamic State (ISIS or IS).

“We have detained and arrested a large number of youth who were radicalised and planned to do something major. Old handlers and operatives are also rearrested. With such harsh disruption, old organisations such as Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Indian Mujahideen (IM) had to come under one umbrella to fight back."

Investigative agencies busted several modules across the country through which the umbrella of the three terror groups was operating to plan major attacks. The Pune ISIS case brought the regrouping of the three outfits to light.