NIA detains four suspects in Rameshwaram Cafe blast case

BENGALURU: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials have taken four people into custody in connection with the Rameshwaram Cafe blast case and are questioning them.

Those detained are suspects in the Ballari ISIS module — Minhaz alias Sulaiman, Anas Iqbal Sheikh, Shayan Rahman and Syed Sameer from Hyderabad, and they are being questioned by the NIA at an undisclosed location.

The NIA has obtained permission from the court to interrogate Sulaiman, who is currently in jail, after securing a body warrant. The court remanded him in NIA custody till March 9. On December 18, the NIA had raided multiple locations across four major states and arrested Minhaz alias Sulaiman in Ballari.

After planting the bomb at the Rameshwaram Cafe, the investigators suspect that the bomber left Bengaluru for Bidar by bus and then went towards Bhatkal. The NIA and the CCB police have intensified the investigation to trace the alleged bomber.

Sulaiman hails from Ballari and was influenced by ISIS. He and his associates identified themselves as the ‘Ballari Module’. They were specifically targeting college students for the purposes of recruitment, and were also circulating documents relating to the recruitment of Mujahideen for the purpose of jihad.

Ballari-based Sulaiman, who was with the banned PFI organisation for the last five years, is accused of creating the Ballary module with the help of Syed Sameer, also hailing from Ballari. They were planning bomb blasts in Bengaluru, Ballari and other parts of North Karnataka.

They had hatched a plan for sabotage by recruiting college students and those who were highly indoctrinated were picked. After traveling to Pakistan, Iran and Iraq, he hatched a conspiracy to make them jihadis.

Acting on certain information, the NIA, on December 18, 2023, raided 19 locations across four states and arrested eight operatives of the banned terror outfit’s Ballari module, including its leader Minhaz, thus foiling plans by the accused to carry out terror acts, especially IED blasts.

NIA teams swooped down on the 19 locations spread across Ballari and Bengaluru in Karnataka; Amaravati, Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra; Jamshedpur and Bokaro in Jharkhand; and Delhi. The eight ISIS agents arrested during the raids were involved in actively promoting terror and terror related acts and activities by ISIS.

During the raids, it came to light that materials needed to detonate IEDs were kept in the house. Sulphur, potassium nitrate, gun powder, sugar, ethanol, sharp weapons, money, documents on secret information, smartphones and other digital devices were also seized.

According to initial investigations, the accused had planned to use the explosive raw materials for the fabrication of IEDs,which were to be used for carrying out terror acts. Investigations have further revealed that the accused, in pursuance of the path of violent jihad, Khilafat and ISIS ideology, were continuously in touch with one another via encrypted apps.