Karnataka minister reveals how police inputs helped NIA arrest Rameshwaram Cafe blast accused

CCTV footage shows the Rameshwaram blast accused at a guest house in Kolkata.

Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara said on Saturday that investigating agencies were trying to ascertain if the two accused arrested by NIA in Rameshwaram cafe blast had linked with other terror outfits. He also lauded the state police for providing certain inputs that led to their arrest. The accused, meanwhile, have been remanded to 10-day police custody.

“Both the NIA and Karnataka police have done a wonderful job. Initially, we got all the CCTV footage and kept track of one of the accused, which helped in their arrest,” he said.

The minister revealed how the police’s tip to the NIA helped them nab the accused.

“Our police shared very good inputs with the NIA, like the cap the accused was wearing, which was purchased from Chennai, and the telephone number he has given in the shop,” he pointed out.

G Parameshwara said the agencies were trying to find their links to other terror-linked crimes as well. He said they might be trying to escape to Bangladesh from West Bengal, where the NIA nabbed them.

“We are investigating the real motive behind the blast and their involvement with other terror outfits (ISIS), as these two (accused) are supposed to be involved in the earlier Shivamogga blast and kept running for three to four days ahead of getting arrested in this case,” Parameshwara said.

“At this point, we don’t have a specific input, but it is possible that they wanted to flee the country as they were caught in West Bengal, which is a border state with Bangladesh. Whether someone is helping from that side (Bangladesh) will be found out in due course,” he added.

He said that both of them are natives of Shivamogga and studied together.

“Unfortunately, this happened in Bengaluru, and both of them hail from Karnataka’s Shivamogga and had studied together, as I was told,” he said.

The suspects, identified as Adbul Matheen Taha and Mussavir Hussain Shazeb, were arrested by the NIA from Kolkata on Friday.

CCTV footage shows they rented a room in Kolkata’s Dream Guest House between March 25 and March 28. They used fake identities.

“They came on 25th March and showed their Identity cards, and we provided them a room. They checked out from the Hotel on 28th March. When the officials from NIA arrived, they went through the entry register and started an investigation. We do not provide food inside the Hotel, so both of them used to go out to have food. They paid in cash and booked only one room. Both of them used their regional language to communicate with each other,” an employee of the guest house said.

With inputs from ANI

Read more news like this on HindustanTimes.com