On Monday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a chargesheet against four individuals in connection with the March 1 blast at Bengaluru’s Rameshwaram Cafe. The accused—Mussavir Hussain Shazib, Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taaha, Maaz Muneer Ahmed, and Muzammil Shareef—face charges under various sections of the IPC, UA(P) Act, Explosive Substances Act, and PDLP Act. All four were previously arrested and are currently in judicial custody.
The blast, which occurred at the Rameshwaram Cafe in Brookfield, ITPL, Bengaluru, injured nine people and caused extensive damage to the property. The NIA’s investigation revealed that Shazib planted the bomb with the assistance of Taaha. Both men had been on the run since 2020 following the dismantling of the Al-Hind module. They were arrested in West Bengal 42 days after the cafe explosion.
The NIA’s probe indicates that Shazib and Taaha, who are ISIS radicals from Karnataka’s Shivamogga district, had previously planned to join ISIS territories in Syria. They were involved in radicalizing other young Muslims, including Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef. The accused used fraudulent Indian SIM cards, bank accounts, and identity documents from the Dark Web for their operations.
The investigation also uncovered that Taaha and Shazib received funding through cryptocurrencies, which Taaha converted to fiat currency using various Telegram-based P2P platforms. These funds were utilized for violent activities in Bengaluru, including a failed IED attack at the BJP Office in Malleshwaram on January 22, 2024, during the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ayodhya.
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