The National Investigation Agency (NIA) said its probe into the Bengaluru blast case revealed that the four accused, charged on Monday, made a failed improvised explosive device (IED) attack on the Karnataka BJP office on the day of the consecration ceremony at Ayodhya on January 22. The module used dark web and cryptocurrency to fund their mission and later the IED was planted at Rameshwaram cafe on March 1, resulting in injuries to at least nine persons, it said.
“The investigations revealed that Shazib was the man who had planted the bomb. He, along with Taaha, had previously been absconding since 2020 after the Al-Hind module was busted. Extensive searches by the NIA had led to their arrest from their hideout in West Bengal 42 days after the Rameshwaram cafe explosion. The two men, hailing from Shivamogga District of Karnataka, were ISIS radicals and had earlier conspired to do Hijrah to ISIS territories in Syria,” said the NIA.
The agency said Taaha and Shazib had used fraudulently obtained Indian SIM cards and Indian bank accounts, and also used various Indian and Bangladeshi Identity documents downloaded from the dark web. It said the two were funded by their handler through crypto currencies, which Taaha converted to Fiat with the help of various Telegram based peer-to-peer platforms. The funds were used by the accused to perpetrate various acts of violence in Bengaluru, it said.
The NIA said that the two were actively involved in radicalising other gullible Muslim youths, including Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef, to the ISIS ideology. It said investigations further revealed that Taaha had been introduced by an ex-convict, Shoaib Ahmed Mirza, to Mohammed Shaheed Faisal, an absconder in the Lashkar-e-Taiba Bengaluru conspiracy case, investigated by the NIA. Taaha then introduced Faisal, his handler, to Mehaboob Pasha, an accused in the Al-Hind ISIS module case, and to Khaja Mohideen, Amir of ISIS South India and later also to Maaz Muneer Ahmed, it said.
Officials said the initial probe into the blast case points towards a Pakistan-based handler who used dark web and cryptocurrency to recruit and finance local youths for carrying out multiple attacks on religious shrines across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Muneer Ahmed radicalised his close associate and college mate Sheikh who along with Baig received funds from their ISIS handler through crypto wallets for furthering terrorist activities of the Islamic State, according to the NIA.