Security tightened in and around BJP office in Bengaluru after ‘failed IED attack’ revelation

Security has been tightened in and around the BJP state office here after the chargesheet filed by the NIA against four men in the Rameshwaram Cafe blast revealed the involvement of the accused in a “failed IED attack” there on the day of the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

The March one blast at the popular cafe in Brookfield here left nine people injured and caused extensive damage to the property. The NIA filed the chargesheet on September nine.

“After details of the chargesheet in the cafe case was revealed, we have enhanced the security measures in and around the BJP office premises, ” a senior Police officer said on Wednesday.

“On a routine, there is always deployment of police officials in civil clothes and also a team of Karnataka State Reserve Police comprising 25 people. We have now strengthened the deployment and have also briefed them to have a strict vigilance and check on all the entry and exit points of the office premises,” he said.

The police have also instructed the party to install metal detectors and door scanners and get all the areas covered with CCTV cameras for surveillance.

According to the chargesheet, two of the key accused were ISIS (banned terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) radicals who used fraudulently obtained “Indian SIM cards and Indian bank accounts” besides “various Indian and Bangladeshi Identity documents downloaded from the dark web (which is accessible only through specialised browsers) in carrying out their nefarious activities.

In a chargesheet filed before a court in Bengaluru, the NIA named Mussavir Hussain Shazib, Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taaha, Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef, as accused.

All of them were arrested earlier and are currently in judicial custody in the case, a statement issued by the NIA said.

Taaha and Shazib were funded by their handler through cryptocurrencies, which Taaha converted to cash with the help of various Telegram-based peer-to-peer or P2P platforms, it said.

“The funds were used by the accused to perpetrate various acts of violence in Bengaluru, investigations further revealed. These included a failed IED attack at the state BJP Office, Malleshwaram, Bengaluru, on the day of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ayodhya on January 22, 2024, after which the two key accused planned the Rameshwaram Cafe blast,” the NIA said.