On Monday, September 9, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) revealed that the accused persons behind the Rameshwaram Blast in Bengaluru, Karnataka, had also planned to blow away the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters in Malleshwaram, Bengaluru. As per the NIA, the accused had planned to execute an improvised explosive device (IED) blast at the BJP office on the day of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22, 2024. However, the attempt failed after which the accused persons carried out the Rameshwaram Cafe blast on March 1st injuring 9 persons.
The NIA revealed this information in a chargesheet filed in the Rameshwaram blast case on Monday, September 9. The chargesheet has been against four individuals identified as Mussavir Hussain Shazib, Abdul Mateen Ahmed Taaha, Maaz Muneer Ahmed, and Muzammil Shareef. These four were arrested by the authorities and now have been charged under relevant sections of IPC, UA(P) Act, Explosive Substances Act, and PDLP Act.
The agency has also named Mohammad Shaheed Faisal as an absconder in a previous Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Bengaluru conspiracy case from 2012. As per the NIA Faisal provided the accused with instructions and funds. Meanwhile, Shazib and Taaha got money through cryptocurrencies to execute the operation.
“The funds were used by the accused to perpetrate various acts of violence in Bengaluru, investigations further revealed. These included a failed IED attack at the State BJP Office, Malleshwaram, Bengaluru, on the day of Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ayodhya on January 22, after which the two key accused had planned the Rameshwaram café blast,” NIA said.
While Faisal has been accused of providing funds for the operation, Taha is believed to be the mastermind behind the planning and execution of the blast, the chargesheet filed by the NIA mentions. “Moving swiftly in its probe, the NIA on Monday charge-sheeted four accused in the high-profile Bengaluru Rameshwaram Café blast case,” NIA spokesperson was quoted as saying in a statement.
The NIA stated that after taking over the case on March 3rd, it conducted many technical and field investigations in collaboration with several state police units and other agencies. It stated that Shazib and Taha had been absconding since 2020 when the Al-Hind module was busted. They were caught in West Bengal following a 42-day pursuit.
The Al-Hind 20-member ISIS module, led by Bengaluru-based Mehboob Pasha and Cuddalore-based Khaja Moideen and operating from Pasha’s Al-Hind Trust office in Guruppanpalya, Bengaluru, intended to establish ISIS Daishwilayah (province) in the jungles of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala. They also purchased books by famed sandalwood smuggler Veerappan to learn how to survive in the deep forest. Their objective was to target/murder Hindu religious and political leaders, police officers, government officials, and certain high-profile individuals across India before retreating to the forest without being spotted, according to the NIA’s charge sheet against 17 members of the Al-Hind module.
On Monday, the NIA further said that Taha and Shazib were ISIS radicals and had earlier planned to do Hijrah to ISIS territories in Syria. “They were actively involved in radicalizing other gullible Muslim youth to the ISIS ideology, and Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef were among such youth. They had fraudulently obtained Indian SIM cards and Indian bank accounts and also used various Indian and Bangladeshi Identity documents downloaded from the Dark Web. Investigations further revealed that Taha had been introduced by an ex-convict, Shoaib Ahmed Mirza, to Mohammed Shaheed Faisal, an absconder in the 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 also to Maaz Muneer Ahmed,” the spokesperson added.
So far, five have been held in the case: Taha (the main planner), Mussavir Hussain Shazib (the bomber), Muzammil Shareef (who provided logistics such as SIM cards and smartphones), Maaz Muneer Ahmed, and Shoaib Ahmed Mirza. Further probe into the case is underway.
