ED questions cooker blast accused in Bengaluru prison over foreign funding
text_fields
Bengaluru: Officers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have interrogated suspects lodged in Bengaluru Central Prison in connection with the 2022 Mangaluru cooker blast case, sources said on Wednesday.
The questioning focused on possible foreign funding for disruptive activities in India. Among those grilled was Mohammad Shariq, the main accused in the case. The ED is specifically probing deposits made into the suspects’ accounts from abroad, while the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is leading the broader investigation.
Officials secured court permission to question the suspects inside the prison, sources added.
The cooker blast took place on November 19, 2022, in Mangaluru, a communally sensitive city in coastal Karnataka. Police had termed it an act of terror, alleging that Shariq initially planned to target a program of then Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, and later a children’s festival organized by an RSS-affiliated institution. The explosive, however, detonated prematurely inside a moving auto-rickshaw.
An unknown outfit called the Islamic Resistance Council (IRC) had claimed responsibility and issued threats against senior police officials, warning of further attacks. Investigators later concluded that the conspiracy was aimed at carrying out large-scale blasts to incite communal tensions and blame Hindu organizations.
The outfit had also issued a threat to then ADGP (Law and Order) Alok Kumar, who was in Mangaluru overseeing the blast investigation, warning him that his “joy would be short-lived” and that he would “pay” for his actions.
At the time, Karnataka Congress President D.K. Shivakumar sparked a controversy by alleging that the Mangaluru blast was orchestrated by the ruling BJP to divert attention from the Voter ID scam after the discovery of several fake cards. He also questioned how Mohammad Shariq could be branded a terrorist without an investigation, asking whether the incident was comparable to the 26/11 Mumbai or Pulwama terror attacks.
The BJP-led Karnataka government had transferred the case to the NIA on November 25, 2022.
Further details on the ED’s latest questioning are awaited.