NIA interrogates Bareilly preacher in Bengaluru cafe blast case

Lucknow, March 29 (IANS) – The Lucknow unit of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided the house of a preacher in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district in connection with the blast at Rameshwaram Cafe in Bengaluru. The preacher was questioned for several hours after being picked up by the NIA, as his mobile phone location was found in Karnataka on the day of the blast.

The NIA team had been tracking the preacher in Bareilly and raided his house in Dhaura Tanda town under the Bhojipura police station limits. The preacher was not found at his house initially and was later picked up from a place of worship and taken to the Bhojipura police station.

Senior police officials stated that the NIA team interrogated the suspect for about five hours at the police station, keeping the local police out of the process. The suspect was instructed not to leave the city without informing the police, and the local authorities were asked to monitor his movements.

The suspect, who had previously been preaching at a center in Karnataka, returned to Bareilly after completing his work. The NIA team obtained contact numbers from the suspect’s mobile phone book and was planning to verify the credentials of individuals in contact with him. If his involvement is confirmed, the agency may take further action against the suspect.

The NIA suspected the involvement of the Al-Hind Islamic State module in the blast and believed it was linked to the Mangaluru cooker blast of November 2022. The similarity in the timer and detonator devices used in the Rameshwaram Cafe and the cooker blasts raised suspicions. Further investigations are underway to unravel the connections and motives behind the attacks.