Cloth merchant, PFI cadre held in Bengaluru blast case

Bengaluru: A cloth merchant from Kaul Bazaar in Ballari district in Karnataka and a PFI cadre have been detained by the National Investigation Agency and Central Crime Branch in their joint investigation of the March 1 blast at the Rameshwaram Cafe here, sources said on Friday. The teams suspect that one of the two detenues, who was an active member of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), was part of the plot. The investigating team believes that he had proximity with some terrorist organisations. Sources said the PFI cadre is believed to have brainwashed many people, including the man who planted the bomb.

On March 1, a man walked into the cafe and set down a bag carrying an IED fitted in it, which had a timer set for an hour, police said, adding that the blast that took place an hour later injured 10 people. The NIA has offered a reward of Rs 10 lakh to find the suspect, whose image has been captured on CCTV.

Meanwhile, the investigation teams found that the man who planted the bomb at the food joint in Brookefield here travelled from Bengaluru to Tumakuru, Ballari, Bidar and then Bhatkal, sources said.