Hopping hotels, paying in cash: How cafe blast accused eluded cops for 1.5 months

The two prime suspects in Bengaluru’s Rameshwaram Café blast, who were arrested from West Bengal’s Contai on Friday, hopped through various states after leaving Karnataka and paid by cash to avoid leaving any trail, NDTV reported quoting sources.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) brought the two suspects — Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taahaa and Mussavir Hussain Shazib — to Bengaluru late Friday (April 13) evening on transit remand.

Hopping addresses

With the NIA hot on their tail, the duo checked into several small hotels across various states, changing their address frequently, sources familiar with the investigation told NDTV. They mostly paid by cash to avoid leaving a paper trail.

The NIA reportedly searched 18 locations across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh, before tracing the duo to Bengal. They were finally nabbed from East Midnapore’s Contai (Kanthi) town, some 150 km from Kolkata, on Friday.

Arrival in Kolkata

In Bengal, they could be first traced to Kolkata, where they checked in to Dream Guest House in Ekbalpur area on March 25, CCTV footage shows. They stayed until March 28, staying three days under fake identities. From there, they checked out and headed to East Midnapore district, the NDTV report says.

NDTV quoted an official as saying that Shazib is suspected to have placed the bomb Rameshwaram Café on March 1, while Taahaa was possibly the mastermind. The blast at the popular eatery on ITPL Road, Brookefield in Bengaluru left 10 people injured.

NIA on tail

It was suspected that the duo might have fled the country via the sea route through Kerala but the NIA had never ruled out other possibilities. The agency had even announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh each for Shazib and Taahaa for any concrete information on them.

The duo will be produced before the NIA court in Bengaluru after a routine medical test.