As Bengaluru waits for major breakthrough in blast probe, Rameshwaram Cafe set to reopen today

Mangalore Today News Network/News18

Bengaluru, Mar 08, 2024: The Rameshwaram Cafe in the Whitefield area of Bengaluru, where nine people were injured in a blast, is all set to reopen around 6 PM on Friday, March 8, after a week. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah is expected to be at the opening, even as the investigating teams in the case are yet to show a major breakthrough.

 

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has found some leads in Bellary and Tumkur and is also questioning people at a religious site near the Rameshwaram cafe.

The trail of CCTV footage shows the suspect reaching the cafe an hour before the blast, using public buses to reach a place of worship and then leaving the city towards Tumkur. Investigators are hopeful of a breakthrough after the latest leads.

Besides Siddaramaiah, deputy CM D K Shivakumar, and state home minister G Parameshwara are also expected to be present at the reopening of the cafe.

Parameshwara, a day ago, had said that sleuths investigating into the blast at the city’s popular eatery have got certain “good leads’.

Elaborating on what investigating agency earlier told News18, the home minister said the suspect is said to have travelled towards the district headquarters town of Tumakuru by a bus after the explosion, and officials are following the leads and verifying his movement till Ballari.

Investigation into March one blast, caused by an Improvised Explosive Device, at the quick-service eatery in Brookfield area in information technology corridor in east Bengaluru that left ten people injured, is being carried by the National Investigation Agency, which is being assisted by the Central Crime Branch of the Bengaluru police.

“We have got more important leads, as to the direction in which he (suspect) has gone and him having changed his clothes. Some information cannot be revealed. We have got good leads in the last couple of days. I feel that he will be nabbed at the earliest,” Parameshwara told reporters.

“It is known that he has traveled by a bus, based on those leads officials are following up. They have got important leads,” he said, adding that there are leads that the suspect travelled towards Tumakuru by a bus and officials were investigating it.

“Officials have checked footage, they have got certain leads. They are verifying from here till Ballari,” he added.

Meanwhile, new video footage of the suspect with a backpack, wearing a full sleeved shirt, cap, facemask, and spectacles moving in the bus has surfaced. From the video it seems that the suspect, after noticing the camera in the bus, moved to a direction where it does not cover him. Also, an unverified photograph of the suspect wearing a T-shirt, without face mask, cap and spectacles, sitting inside the bus is also doing the rounds.

NIA has announced Rs 10 lakh cash reward for information about the bomber.