BENGALURU, 5 MARCH

National Investigation Agency (NIA) is suspecting that there could be a connection between a low-lying sleeper terror module based in Tamil Nadu and Kerala and the blast that happened at Rameshwaram Café in Whitefield on 1 March.

“Thadiyantavide Nazeer, a life imprisonment convict and Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, has allegedly radicalised several individuals inside Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru, instigating them to carry out terror attacks in the country,” a senior official with an intelligence agency told Salar News.

NIA on Tuesday carried out raids at 17 locations in seven states, including Karnataka, in connection with its probe into this prison radicalisation case. Mannady and Muthialpet in Chennai and Cuddalore were part of the locations covered in the raid. The premier agency is trying to find if there is any connection between the individuals radicalised by Nazeer and those involved in the blast at Rameshwaram Café.

Following raids, two individuals from Chennai, identified as Thameem Ashok and Hassan Ali, were taken into custody. Ashok is employed at a jewellery store at T Nagar in Chennai. The houses of Ashok's father in Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu also came under the search.

The raids also unearthed a transaction worth Rs 1 lakh, which was traced back to Dubai. This money was credited into an account linked to Nazeer.

On 25 July, 2008, nine serial blasts occurred in Bengaluru, resulting in the death of a woman and leaving 20 injured. Indian Army arrested Nazeer from near the India-Bangladesh border in 2009 in connection with the Bengaluru blast. The Kerala native has been lodged in Parappana Agrahara Central Prison here since then. Kerala politician Abdul Nasser Madani and Madani’s wife Soofiya Madani were also arrested.

Nazeer transferred a group of convicts to his barrack to radicalise and recruit them into LeT in 2017. Junaid Ahmed and Salman Khan, who were among the radicalised, were suspected to have fled abroad. “He conspired with Ahmed to radicalise and recruit the other accused,” NIA said.

The others who are suspected to have come in touch with Nazeer include Syed Suhail Khan, Mohammed Umar, Zahid Tabrez, Syed Mudassir Pasha and Mohammed Faisal Rabbani. These five people have been chargesheeted by the agency under sections of Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Explosives Substances Act and Arms Act.

NIA Inspector General Santosh Rastogi is heading the probe into the Rameshwaram café blast case. An NIA team on Tuesday met with the staff of the café and carried out preliminary investigations. —Salar News