A policeman stands guard near The Rameshwaram Cafe in Bengaluru where eight persons were injured following a blast on March 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: File photo
In a significant breakthrough, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested the alleged bomber and chief conspirator of The Rameshwaram Cafe blast in Bengaluru. The duo were arrested near Kolkata, West Bengal on April 12, according to the NIA.
The arrested persons are Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taahaa, 30, the alleged chief conspirator, and Mussavir Hussain Shazib, 30, the alleged bomber.
The restaurant in Brookfield, Bengaluru was targeted on March 1, causing injuries to nine persons. NIA had recently announced a reward of ₹10 Lakh for information leading to their arrest.
Mussavir Hussain Shazib is suspected of placing the IED in The Rameshwaram Café and Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taahaa is suspected of planning the blast and subsequent evasion from the clutches of law, according to the NIA.
| Photo Credit:
File photo
Mussavir Hussain Shazib is suspected of placing the IED in the café. Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taahaa is suspected of planning the execution of blast and subsequent evasion from the clutches of law, according to the NIA.
NIA said the duo were traced to their hideout near Kolkata where they were staying under false identities, in the early hours of April 12. “This pursuit was successfully accomplished by NIA with support and co-operation between NIA, Central intelligence agencies and State Police of West Bengal, Telangana, Karnataka, and Kerala,” according to a statement by the NIA.
Thirthahalli module neutralised?
Abdul Matheen Taahaa and Mussavir Hussain Shazib hail from Thirthahalli in Shivamogga district of Karnataka. They have been under the radar of security agencies since 2020. Security agencies believe that they had put together a terror module, referred to as the ‘Thirthahalli Module’, while being on the run.
The duo first came to the notice of the agencies in the Al Hind IS module case in 2020 in Bengaluru. Mehboob Pasha, who ran the Al Hind Trust in Suddaguntepalya in Bengaluru and Khaja Moideen of Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu had put together an Islamic State inspired terror module, and were in advanced stages of setting up camps in the forests of south India from where they wanted to launch a IS-style insurgency. Abdul Matheen Taahaa and Mussavir Hussain Shazib evaded arrest and went underground.
Youths from Thirthahalli, allegedly radicalised by them, were involved in three terror cases — pro-terror graffiti in Mangaluru in October 2020, a trial blast of an Improvised Explosive Device on the banks of river Tunga in Shivamogga in September 2022, and cooker bomb blast in Mangaluru in November 2022. Four youths from Thirthahalli have been arrested in these cases. Taahaa and Hussain were named as accused in all the three cases.
“With the arrest of these two kingpins, all those we know of being members of this module have been arrested. We hope that this will neutralise this module. However, the duo have been travelling around India for the past four years. We have seen their footprints in Mumbai, Ratnagiri, Nellore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Assam and now West Bengal. They are highly motivated people, and there is a chance that they may have radicalised and recruited more people in other places. That will be part of the investigation,” said a senior police official from Karnataka, who has probed multiple cases involving the module.
The official added that Abdul Matheen Taahaa and Mussavir Hussain Shazib had used their recruits to carry out terror incidents earlier. But, Hussain planting the IED at The Rameshwaram Cafe in Bengaluru on March 1 indicated that they may have run out of expendable recruits. “This raises hopes that there aren’t any left in the module, and with the arrest of the duo, the module has been neutralised,” he said.