Rameshwaram Cafe blast case: NIA files charge sheet against four accused

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday filed a charge sheet against four accused in Bengaluru's high-profile Rameshwaram Cafe blast case.

The accused -- Mussavir Hussain Shazib, Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taaha, Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef -- were earlier arrested and are currently in judicial custody, the NIA said in a statement.

Taaha and Shazib were funded by their handler through cryptocurrencies, it said.

The funds were used by the accused to perpetrate various acts of violence in Bengaluru, NIA investigations have 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 Cafe blast," the statement said.

The charge sheet was filed in a special NIA court in Bengaluru.

The IED explosion, which took place on March 1, this year at the Rameshwaram Cafe, Brookfield, ITPL Bengaluru, had left nine persons injured and extensively damaged the hotel property.

NIA, which started investigation in the case on March 3, conducted several technical and field investigations in coordination with various state police forces and other agencies.

The investigations revealed that Shazib was the man who had planted the bomb.

He, along with Taaha, had previously been absconding since 2020 after the Al-Hind module was busted, the NIA statement said.

Extensive searches by the NIA had led to their arrest from their hideout in West Bengal 42 days after the Rameshwaram Cafe explosion.

The two men, hailing from Shivamogga District of Karnataka, were ISIS radicals, the probe agency.

They were actively involved in radicalising other gullible Muslim youth to the ISIS ideology, and Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef were among such youth.

"Taaha and Shazib had used fraudulently obtained Indian SIM cards and Indian bank accounts, and also used various Indian and Bangladeshi Identity documents downloaded from the Dark Web," the statement said.

Investigations further revealed that Taaha had been introduced by an ex-convict, Shoaib Ahmed Mirza, to Mohammed Shaheed Faisal, an absconder in the LeT Bengaluru conspiracy case, it added.

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 NIA said.