Bengaluru Rameshwaram Cafe blast: Suspect travelled to Ballari after planting bomb, changed clothes

NIA officials are investigating the Rameshwaram Café blast suspect who traveled to Ballari and then boarded a bus to  Gokarna. CCTV footage shows the suspect avoiding camera surveillance on a BMTC's AC bus. The suspect's deboarding location is still unknown.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials who are investigating the Rameshwaram Cafe blast have learned that the suspect bomber travelled to Ballari from where he boarded another bus heading to Gokarna. On Wednesday, NIA representatives traveled to Ballari and, with the assistance of the district police, examined the CCTV video stored in the New Bus stop. They discovered the suspect alighting from one bus and boarding another.

According to sources, the suspect appears to have boarded the Mantralaya-Gokarna bus. Where the suspect got off the bus has not yet been disclosed by the authorities. A top Ballari police official pleaded with the media not to disseminate any false information on the Rameshwaram Cafe blast case.

It was discovered that the suspected individual took a bus to Ballari and changed buses at the Ballari bus stop. "He is the only suspected person. We checked the footage on Wednesday night. There is no need to jump to conclusions.” NIA officials added.

Meanwhile, the video footage of the suspect with a backpack, wearing a full sleeved shirt, cap, facemask, and spectacles moving in the bus has surfaced. The suspect was attempting to elude camera observation, according to CCTV footage of a BMTC air conditioner bus that the suspected bomber traveled in, which is accessible to the NIA and the Bengaluru municipal police.

After exiting from the café, the suspect boarded a bus bearing registration number KA-01-F-4517 on the ITPL main road around 11.42am on March 1. According to a CCTV footage, the suspect spent approximately 9 minutes inside the cafe, during which he ordered Idly before promptly leaving while holding a mobile phone.