The National Investigation Agency on Wednesday announced a ₹10 lakh cash reward for any information on the man who planted the low-intensity IED in the Rameshwaram cafe leading to a blast on March 1 injuring at least 10 people who were there in the cafe. The NIA released a sketch of the accused in the ‘wanted’ poster and said that the identity of the informer will be kept secret.
No arrest has been made yet in the blast case so far, despite the manhunt being conducted by both the Central Crime Branch and the NIA. The NIA began its probe on Tuesday after the Union home ministry directed it to take up the investigation as the Karnataka government did not hand over the probe to the central agency.
Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara said on Wednesday that the city police have found vital clues and are inching closer to cracking the case.
Following the blast that sent shockwaves to the city, the cafe was closed and will only reopen on March 8.
On March 1, during the lunch hour rush in the popular cafe, an explosion took place, injuring 10 people, though the injuries were not serious. Piecing together CCTV footage, the sleuths found out that a man who came an hour before to the cafe and stayed inside the cafe only for a few minutes left behind the bag that had the IED with a timer. The man ordered a plate of rava idli but did not have it.
This footage led to a grainy photo of the suspected accused going viral. The NIA issued a ‘wanted’ notice on Wednesday, confirming that the man from the viral photo is being targeted as the suspect.
The suspect is a tall man with a slim build and his age can be between 30 and 40 years. In the earlier photos obtained from CCTV inside the cafe, he was seen with a mask but in the photo released by the NIA on Wednesday, his face is more revealed.
Amidst the investigation into the case, reports on Tuesday claimed that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister Dk Shivakumar, and State Home Minister G Parameshwara received threats via emails. The reports were denied by Siddaramaiah.
