New Delhi: National Investigation Agency (NIA) Friday arrested a former convict in a conspiracy case related to the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for allegedly introducing the suspected mastermind of the Bengaluru Rameshwaram Cafe blast to a foreign-based handler and setting up an encrypted channel of communication between them.
Shoaib Ahmed Mirza alias Chhotu’s arrest from Hubli is the fifth in this case by NIA, which took over the probe from the Bengaluru Central Crime Branch on 3 March at the direction of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The Rameshwaram Cafe, located in the city’s IT corridor (Brookfield), was rocked by a low-intensity blast on 1 March in the afternoon when it is generally bustling with visitors. The blast left nine people injured.
According to the NIA, Mirza, a convict in the LeT Bengaluru conspiracy case of 2012, allegedly introduced the prime accused in the Rameshwaram Cafe blast case, Abdul Matheen Taha, to a foreign handler and arranged an encrypted e-mail ID for communication.
Taha and Mussavir Shazeeb Hussain, a co-accused in the case, were arrested last month by the agency from their hideouts in Kolkata.
The latest arrest comes two days after the NIA raided premises linked to 11 suspects in the case who were also convicts in the 2012 case.
“Mirza was in touch with Matheen Taha since 2018 and was the one driving his communication with the foreign handler,” a source in the NIA told ThePrint, adding Mirza walked out after completing his sentence.
The counter-terrorism agency has alleged that Mussavir was the one who placed the bomb inside Rameshwaram Cafe that led to the explosion, while Matheen was allegedly the “mastermind” behind the blast.
For the NIA, its first breakthrough in the case was when it took custody of 26-year-old Maaz Muneer Ahmed, then under judicial custody for his alleged involvement with the Shivamogga module of the Islamic State (IS). This module landed on investigating agencies’ radar in 2020.
Ten days after taking custody of Ahmed, the agency nabbed one Muzammil Shareef from Chikkamagaluru for allegedly providing logistics support to the accused, who carried out the blast. It subsequently outlined the suspected roles of Taha and Mussavir in the blast.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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