NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency ( NIA ) on Monday filed a chargesheet against four accused in the Bengaluru’s Rameshwaram cafe blast case, revealing how the ISIS-influenced conspirators had earlier plotted other attacks, including a failed one at the Karnataka BJP office at Malleshwaram on the day of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ayodhya. The arrested accused named in the chargesheet include Mussavir Hussain Shazib, who had planted the bomb at the cafe in March 1, 2024. The bomb explosion had injured 9 persons and caused heavy damage to the cafe.
Other accomplices who were chargesheeted on Monday are Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taaha, Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef. Relevant sections of IPC, UA(P) Act, Explosive Substances Act and PDLP Act have been invoked against all the accused, who currently are in judicial custody. NIA, which started investigation in the Rameshwaram cafe blast case on March 3, had conducted several technical and field investigation in coordination with various state police forces and other agencies.
The investigations revealed that Shazib, along with Taaha, was absconding since 2020 after the Al-Hind ISIS module was busted. Extensive searches by NIA had led to arrest of the accused from their hideout in West Bengal 42 days after the Rameshwaram café explosion. Shazib and Taaha, both hailing from Shivamogga district of Karnataka, were indoctrinated and influenced by ISIS’s violent ideology and had earlier conspired to perform ‘Hijra.