NIA team camping in Ballari, search for Rameshwaram Cafe blast suspect continues

BENGALURU, BALLARI: A team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is on the trail of The Rameshwaram Cafe blast suspect, has been camping in Ballari for the last four days where he was last spotted.

The investigators are also questioning the members of Sulaiman’s gang who are lodged at the Parappana Agrahara central prison in Bengaluru after getting their custody from court. They are Minhaz alias Sulaiman and Syed Samir from Ballari, Shayan Rehman from Delhi, and Anas Iqbal Sheik from Mumbai. The gang had planned to carry out terror acts and were arrested from Ballari and Byadarahalli in Bengaluru.

The NIA officials are also questioning an aide of Mohammed Muniruddin, who was arrested last December. They even dressed him up with a cap and satchel bag like the one carried by the suspect at a police station. However, it is learnt that the appearance did not match and the investigators let him off after questioning.

The NIA officials are also keeping a watch over those who were in touch with terror suspects. They have collected CCTV footage of eight days from The Rameshwaram Cafe, and from the Hosapete and Kudligi bus stations and other places.

Meanwhile, it is suspected that the man who planted the explosive at the restaurant may have done a recce earlier to check where the IED can be planted. He also tried to put the investigators off this trail by changing his clothes after planting the explosive.

Despite an intense hunt for the blast suspect over the last eight days, neither the NIA nor the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police have got any fresh clues apart from the CCTV footages from Bengaluru and Ballari. The CCB officials are slowly being recalled from the investigation while the NIA takes over the probe completely.