M’luru auto blast: Satellite calls were active before the explosion

Mangaluru: It is gathered that satellite phone calls made to the coastal region were detected before the November 19  autorickshaw blast at Naguri in the city.

Intelligence sources confirmed that suspicious satellite phone calls were detected in a thickly forested area on the coast before the explosion.

A day before the blast, a satellite phone was active in the Kakkinje forest area near Bantwal. As Shariq, reached B C Road in Bantwal the next day, the satellite conversation has gained more importance.

There were satellite calls to Udupi and Uttara Kannada too, sources said.

Shariq wanted to establish an ISIS module?

It is gathered that the blast suspect, Mohammad Shariq of Tirthahalli, who was arrested in the Mangaluru cooker blast case, visited forest areas on the border of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala states in the last few months with the intention to establish an ISIS terrorist module in South India.

Probe is to be handed over to NIA

Meanwhile, the Karnataka government on Thursday issued an order to hand over the investigation into the Mangaluru blast case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The state government has written to the Ministry of Home Affairs recommending an NIA investigation into the case, state Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said in a statement.

(With PTI inputs)