The use of a second-hand mobile phone by a person arrested in connection with a blast at The Rameshwaram Cafe in Bengaluru on March 1 has led to the questioning of a BJP worker from Karnataka, the original purchaser of the phone, sources revealed.
Sai Prasad, a BJP worker from Shivamogga district, was summoned and questioned this week by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and was later allowed to return home.
Investigators said that Prasad was a frequent visitor to a mobile store in Thirthahalli that was operated by Sardar Naveed – a suspect who was searched by the NIA on March 27. The BJP worker sold a mobile phone to Naveed’s mobile store.
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The probe found that the mobile phone that was originally purchased by the BJP worker was later used by Muzammil Shareef, 30, the only arrested person in the Rameshwaram Cafe blast case so far.
“The second hand phone used by the arrested person brought Sai Prasad under the scanner,” police said.
Shareef who worked and lived in Bengaluru is alleged to have provided logistical support, including mobile SIMs and material for making IEDs to the two main missing suspects involved in making and planting an IED at the cafe – Musavir Hussain Shazib, 30, the alleged planter of the device and Abdul Matheen Taha, 30, his close associate.
Technical analysis of phone use led to the IMEI number of the phone of the BJP worker, sources said.
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“The case being a terror incident, any information on the identity of the witnesses may apart from hampering investigation may also put at risk the individuals being summoned,” the NIA said Friday after reports suggested the BJP worker is a suspect.
Earlier, in mid-March the NIA detained a person identified as Syed Shabbir from Ballari on suspicion that he interacted with the main suspect at Ballari on the night of March 1 – around eight hours after the blast. He was later let off after questioning.
The NIA searched 18 locations on March 27 and summoned several people for questioning. Among the places that were searched was the mobile phone store of Naveed, a former friend of the two missing suspects. The arrested suspect Muzammil Shareef who had family connections in Thirthahalli was also reportedly a frequent visitor to the store.
On March 27, following the arrest of Muzammil Shareef, the NIA officially identified the person who carried out the IED blast at The Rameshwaram Cafe which left nine people injured as “Mussavir Hussain Shazib and co-conspirator as Abdul Matheen Taha”, both residents of Thirthahalli in Shivamogga district.
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On March 29, the NIA released CCTV pictures from a clothing store at a Chennai mall which provided the agency confirmations on the identities of the main suspect and his associate. A cap that was abandoned by the missing suspect after planting the IED at the cafe led the police to the Chennai mall.
The NIA has indicated that the suspects are inclined towards using fake identities for covering their tracks.
The NIA has indicated that Taha stayed at lodging facilities in Chennai in February ahead of the bombing using the identity of ‘Vignesh’ and also used the name ‘Sumit’. The NIA has indicated that Shazib went under the name of ‘Mohammed Juned Sayed’ in Chennai.
In a Rs 10 lakh reward notice for Taha NIA said that he “has been using Hindu identity documents, forged Aadhaar in the name of Vignesh or other similar forged ID documents to conceal identity”. In the case of Shazib, the NIA said “he has been using a forged driving licence in the name of Mohammed Juned Sayed” to conceal his identity.
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The use of phones, SIM cards, ID documents and encrypted communication systems during the planning and execution of terror plots are considered to be terror tradecraft that terror groups deploy to throw investigations off track.
SUB-HEAD: 2 key suspects in cafe blast case linked to Shivamogga IS module
The two main suspects in the cafe blast case are part of a Shivamogga module of the Islamic State against whom four separate terror cases have been filed since 2020. The names of Shazib and Taha first emerged in January 2020 after the arrests of over 30 members of a network allegedly aligned over the ideology of the Islamic State in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Ten members of the Shivamogga module are accused of being part of a bomb testing episode in early 2022, an accidental blast in Mangaluru in November 2022, and a provocative graffiti case in Mangaluru in December 2020.
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In all these cases the Karnataka Police have identified the presence of Abdul Matheen Taha, an IT engineer, and Musavir Hussain Shazib as key persons influencing the module.
A key member of the Shivamogga IS group, Maaz Muneer Ahmed, 25, who has been in prison since September 2022, was taken into custody in the cafe blast case by NIA between March 14 and 21. Ahmed, who was questioned extensively for a week, is considered a key link in the group and is likely to be named in the case as well.
An unidentified handler going by names like “Colonel” and “Bhai” have emerged in the cases. All the cases are being probed by the NIA.
