Bengaluru Rameshwaram Cafe blast: How NIA identified 'bomber' Mussavir Hussain Shazib revealed

By Team Asianet Newsable | First Published Mar 23, 2024, 11:42 AM IST

The identification of one suspect, Musavir Hussain Shazib, was facilitated by a cap he was wearing, which helped police identify him and his associate, Abdil Mathern Taha, through CCTV images captured before they purchased the cap.

A special branch CID police team in Tamil Nadu has reported to the Bengaluru police that two suspects involved in the Rameshwaram Cafe bomb blast on March 1 were spotted in Chennai in January. The identification of one suspect, Musavir Hussain Shazib, was facilitated by a cap he was wearing, which helped police identify him and his associate, Abdil Mathern Taha, through CCTV images captured before they purchased the cap.

Following the blast that wounded 10 individuals at the café near Whitefield in Bengaluru, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had recovered the cap. The Tamil Nadu team's investigation revealed that Shazib and Taha had acquired the cap from a mall in Mylapore, Chennai, and lodged in Triplicane.

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Previously, investigators had gathered numerous CCTV footage pieces of the suspect, but his identity remained concealed by the cap.

Upon closer examination of the image, NIA sleuths meticulously recorded the serial number imprinted on the cap. This crucial detail enabled them to trace the origin of the cap to a specific shop within the mall where it was sold back in January.

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"The cap was of a limited edition which was sold only to about 400 people in the southern states," said an officer to TOI.

"CCTV footage from the mall on the day of purchase showed Shazib and Taha, residents of Thirthahalli in Karnataka and part of a Shivamogga IS module. The two men stayed in a lodge in Triplicane in January and February using fake IDs before heading toAndhra Pradesh," a police officer who shared the details with Bengaluru police and NIA told the publication.

Shazib and Taha are wanted in a case investigated by the NIA in 2020.

NIA officials have gathered hair strands from the cap retrieved in Bengaluru and forwarded them for forensic examination. The NIA intends to conduct DNA comparisons with those of Shazib's immediate family members.

Concurrently, officials from the Special Division of the State Crime Branch CID in Tamil Nadu are probing whether Shazib and Taha obtained explosives from within the state.

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