Mussavir Shazeeb Hussain, who has been identified by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as the bomber at The Rameshwaram Cafe on March 1, and Abdul Matheen Taha, named as a key conspirator in the case, residents of Tirthahalli, Shivamogga, are accused in multiple terror cases and have been on the run from agencies since 2020.
The duo first came to the notice of security agencies when the Karnataka police busted the Al-Hind terror module inspired by the Islamic State (IS) in Bengaluru’s Suddaguntepalya in January, 2020. The module was allegedly put together by Mehboob Pasha, who ran the Al-Hind Trust in the city, and Khaja Moideen, from Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu.
The module allegedly aimed to set up an IS province through an insurgency from the jungles of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the NIA chargesheet in the case alleged.
Abdul Matheen Taha’s cousin ran a garments shop in Suddaguntepalya and came into contact with Mehboob Pasha and was allegedly high in the pecking order in the Al-Hind module, a senior Karnataka police official said.
Mussavir Shazeeb Hussain, reportedly a distant relative of Taha, was also an accused in the case. While most of the accused were arrested in the case, the duo escaped arrest and managed to give agencies the slip since then.
Creation of Tirthahalli module
The duo created a terror module in Tirthahalli, where they hail from, sources in the Karnataka Police said. “After the Al-Hind module was busted, the duo on the run radicalised some youth from their hometown and created another module,” a senior official said.
This alleged Tirthahalli module first came to the notice of the State police in November 2020 when three youth, Maaz Muneer, Mohammed Shariq from Tirthahalli, and Syed Yasin, from Mangaluru, were arrested for pro-terror graffiti in Mangaluru. They were later released on bail. The module again came on the radar in September 2022.
Probing a stabbing incident during Independence Day celebrations in Shivamogga in 2022, the district police stumbled onto an alleged terror plot, which had allegedly carried out a trial blast, rigging an IED on the banks of river Tunga. Maaz Muneer and Syed Yasin were arrested in the case. Mohammed Shariq was able to flee arrest.
Investigation into the trial blast case put the Karnataka Police on the trail of Mussavir Shazeeb Hussain, Abdul Matheen Taha, and Arafath Ali, who they identified as key persons behind the new module.
Two months later, Mohammed Shariq, who was also on the run for two months then, appeared in an autorickshaw with a cooker rigged as an IED which accidentally exploded on the outskirts of Mangaluru on November 19, 2022.
The police again named Mussavir Shazeeb Hussain, Abdul Matheen Taha, and Arafath Ali as accused in the case. The NIA arrested Arafath Ali at the Delhi airport on September 15, 2023, when he returned from abroad.
The hunt was on for Hussain and Taha, when The Rameshwaram Cafe blast happened in the city on March 1 and they have now been identified as the bomber and key conspirator in the case. They continue to be on the run.
