Bengaluru cafe blast: Accused used 35 SIM cards, fake Aadhaar, driving licences to evade arrest

Bengaluru cafe blast accused reportedly used 35 SIM cards, tens of fake Aadhaar cards, driving licences (DLs) and other government documents to evade law enforcement agencies for over a month, media reports said citing sources.India’s anti-terror agency National Investigation Agency (NIA) detained Mussavir Hussain Shazib (30) from the eastern state of West Bengal on Friday (Apr 12). He is the prime accused in the case, who allegedly planted the IED at Bengaluru’s Rameshwaram Cafe on March 1. Along with him, the agency nabbed Adbul Matheen Taha (30), who orchestrated the attack and subsequent escape. The duo was arrested from a place called Digha in Purba Medinipur, a little over 180 kilometres from Kolkata.

NIA gets 10-day police custody

On Saturday (Apr 13), the duo was presented before the special terrorism court judge at his residence in Bengaluru following their medical test. “The court has given the NIA 10 days of custody of the accused for further investigations,” a special public prosecutor for the NIA said.

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As per the investigators, the two accused had fled and were staying in West Bengal for the last three weeks. To evade authorities, they used different aliases and chose low-budget, under-the-radar hotels.

Before Digha, the men had spent time at places like Kolkata, Purulia and Darjeeling. They stayed at two hotels in Karnataka, using different names, thanks to fake Aadhaar cards.

While accused Shazib used a fake Aadhaar card under the name Yusha Shahnawaz Patel, Taha used fake names such as Vignesh B D for staying in the hotels in these areas.

Watch:Bengaluru cafe blast: Mastermind, key accused arrested near Kolkata; taken into custody

At a separate hotel, they registered with the fake names of Sanjay Agarwal and Uday Das, residents of Jharkhand and Tripura respectively.

They also ensured to pay in cash at every location to avoid leaving a digital trail behind.

Used cryptocurrency

Earlier, it was reported that the team used cryptocurrency to finance the entire operation.

“He used various conduits, including stolen identities and IDs of people recruited for the ISIS cause in different parts of India, to transfer cryptocurrency to Shareef to arrange logistics for the blast,” an official said, adding that Taha is an IT graduate.

It is reported that the two men used at least 35 SIM cards to avoid getting tracked by the authorities during their time on the run.

The NIA had earlier arrested Muzammil Shareef (30) in connection with the case on March 27. He is understood to have provided logistics like cell phones, fake SIM cards and other materials used to plan and execute the blast, which left nine people injured.

(With inputs from agencies)