Khushi Maheshwari, Pune
On Tuesday, the National Investigation Agency conducted searches across 7 states as part of a probe into the Bangalore radicalization case. The NIA raided 17 different locations. The search comes after a recent explosion that took place at Rameshwaram Cafe in Bangalore on Friday. While a concrete connection between these raids and the blast has not been determined yet, sources who have been following the developments have informed that suspected links will be put under scrutiny.
Radicalization in this context refers to prompting someone to adopt extreme or radical stances on social and political subjects. The prime suspect in carrying out this radicalization is a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) convict called T Naseer. T. Naseer has been sentenced to life imprisonment in Bengaluru Central Prison and is alleged to have radicalized fellow inmates in the prison itself and propelled them to execute many terror attacks in the subcontinent. The Parappana Agrahara Central Prison holds several such convicts and has become a nest for radicalization.
The central crime branch, or CCB, of the Bengaluru police took 5 terror suspects under arrest back in July. They, too, were conjectured to have been radicalized by the LeT. Along with this, the CCB acquired a bundle of ammunition and arms like 45 bullets, a dagger, seven pistols, and 12 phones in July, after which they arrested yet another individual.
In October 2023, the case was handed over to the NIA. The NIA started by scouring 6 places in December in a series of raids it carried through over the possibility of radicalization of other prisoners by a convict associated with the LeT.
The raids happened in the residences of the following people: Mohammad Umar Khan, Tanveer Ahmed, Mohammad Farooq, and Mohammad Faisal Rabbani; additionally, leading suspect Junaid Ahmed’s house was also raided.
Junaid Ahmed became a primary suspect due to his involvement and arrest in a 2017 murder case along with 12 other people. Nasser, another convict, who is alleged to have prompted 6 men to devise bomb blasts in Bengaluru, is said to be behind the radicalization of Junaid and five others.
Furthermore, Junaid had also been named in a Red Sanders smuggling case in 2021; ever since, he has been escaping arrest and funding other prisoners for arms and ammunition.
The National Investigation Agency took charge of the Rameshwaram Cafe Blast on Monday.