Two days after taking over the probe into The Rameshwaram Cafe blast case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has announced a reward of ₹10 lakh for any information on the suspect seen in the CCTV footage on the fateful day.
On Wednesday, NIA posted on social media platforms a CCTV grab of the suspect and announced the reward. It has also assured that the identity of the informant will be kept confidential.
The suspect is seen getting down a BMTC bus and walking to The Rameshwaram Cafe in Brookfield, having an idli and leaving the restaurant on March 1. The Improvised Explosive Device (IED) kept in a bag exploded about an hour later.
The NIA has begun probe into the case and a team of investigators visited the restaurant on Wednesday and met sleuths from the Central Crime Branch (CCB), who have been investigating the case.
Meanwhile, Home Minister G. Parameshwara said that the CCB of Bengaluru City Police will continue to assist the NIA in the investigation. “The CCB team has some vital clues and are working on it to track down the accused,” he said.
On whether an Intelligence failure led to the blast, Mr. Parameshwara said that there were many Intelligence agencies in the country, both at the Centre and State, and the perpetrator evaded all these agencies and carried out the attack.
Reacting to the threat mail, he said that the proton mail service, the domain used to send the email, was based abroad and the city police had written to the service provider seeking information on the sender. “This is the second incident where such domains that prioritise encryption and privacy have been used. The Union government should ban such service providers, as they are posing a threat to national security,” he said.
