NIA in Chennai hunting for logistical support for Rameshwaram Cafe blast suspects

CHENNAI: After finding out that the two suspects involved in the March 1 Rameshwaram Cafe blast in Bengaluru were in Chennai for a month, the sleuths from the National Investigation Agency are now trying to find out who provided them logistical support.

The officials are also inquiry the source of the explosives used in the blast, which left many injured and rocked Garden City, and the source for funds to plan and execute it.

On Wednesday, the NIA officials searched more than 10 premises in Tamil Nadu, including 6 locations in Chennai, in connection with the investigation. Sources here told DT Next that the remaining locations where they are searching are in southern districts of Tamil Nadu.

The NIA identified the man who placed the explosives at the Bengaluru cafe as Musavir Hussain Shazib, a native of Thirthahalli in Shivamogga district in Karnataka.

As DT Next had reported earlier, the officials reportedly found out that Shazib and his associate Abdul Mathern Taha had stayed in lodges in Triplicane in Chennai for nearly for a month before he travelled to Bengaluru and detonated the bomb at the cafe.

According to sources, the investigators are trying to find out who provided them logistical support while they were in Chennai. The NIA team is yet to find out details of persons who provided the suspects with the explosives and funding.

Tracking more than 1,000 CCTV footage, the investigators and Bengaluru police found that the two suspects were in Chennai in January and February. What led them to the suspects’ link to Chennai, the significance of which is yet to be ascertained, is the trail left by a baseball cap that the key suspect was wearing while planting the explosive in the crowded eatery on that day. The cap was purchased from a mall in Chennai city, the sleuths told this newspaper.

The officials tracked the CCTV footage from the neighborhood and retrieved the cap that Shazib was wearing from the toilet of a mosque situated about two kilometres away from the cafe.

Though it was not a major lead, the investigators decided to probe it thoroughly. From the serial number on the cap, they managed to track the cap to a shop in the mall in the heart of Chennai.

Luck, too, played a part, as it was part of a limited edition series from a particular brand, with only around 400 such caps being sold in the whole of South India.

By matching the serial number with the bills, the officers found out that it was sold in January end. After finding the date of purchase, it was a relatively simple matter of collecting the CCTV footage for the date and time when the cap was sold.

In the footage, they got the first real break in the case: Taha, a wanted man in a 2020 NIA case. Shazib was a fellow suspect in the same case.

This breakthrough triggered yet another round of CCTV trail, which revealed that Shazib was also linked to the Rameshwaram Cafe blast. The duo was staying in a lodge in Triplicane for more than a month.

Poring over hundreds of CCTV footage, the investigators found Shazib returning to Chennai after the blast and they leaving for an unknown location later.