The identity of the accused in the Mangaluru blast case has been confirmed as that of Mohammad Shariq, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), Alok Kumar, confirmed on Monday, November 21. Mangaluru Police have found materials used in making bombs from Shariq’s rented house in Mysuru, adding that he was "influenced and inspired" by a global terrorist organisation. The ADGP said the police are trying to find out the 24-year-old's links with people outside Karnataka. "His handler was Abdul Mateen Taha from Suddaguntepalya in Bengaluru, on whom the National Investigation Agency has announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh," the ADGP said.
Shariq, hailing from Thirthahalli in Shivamogga district, was travelling in an autorickshaw with a pressure cooker fitted with a detonator, wires, and batteries when it exploded on the outskirts of Mangaluru on Saturday. He is currently being treated in a city hospital after suffering burn injuries and is unable to speak.
Karnataka police termed the explosion "an act of terror" to cause serious damage. They are probing the incident along with central agencies. "Our priority is to see that he survives, we have to take him to a stage where we can question him," ADGP Kumar said. "We found matchbox, sulphur, phosphorus, batteries, circuit and nuts and bolts from the house. Mohan Kumar, the owner of the house, was not aware of these activities," he said.
Taha was the "main handler." He, along with two people named Khwaja and Mohammed Pasha from Tamil Nadu, were booked under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) at Suddaguntepalya in Bengaluru in 2020. Apart from Taha, another person called Arafat Ali from Thirthahalli was also like his handler, Kumar added.
Search operations were carried out in seven locations including Mangaluru, Shivamogga, Mysuru, and Thirthahalli, the ADGP said. "We are trying to find out those who harboured him," he added. Shariq is being booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, police sources said.
Shariq was also involved in painting objectionable graffiti in Mangaluru in 2020 and was later released on bail. His name had also surfaced earlier this year when a communal clash broke out over putting up Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's photo at a public place on August 15, in the district headquarters town of Shivamogga. The vandals had gone on a rampage and stabbed Prem Singh, who worked in a nearby shop. In this connection, police arrested Mohammed Zabihulla alias Charbi, Syed Yasin, and Maaz Muneer Ahmed while Shariq absconded. Yasin and Maaz had told police at the time that they were "brainwashed" by Shariq. The group was planning to set up an Islamic State base in the country and wanted to "establish a Caliphate" in the country, they said.
A messaging services app came in handy for Shariq to establish a link with the Syria-based Islamic State (IS) militants from whom they got a PDF to learn how to make a bomb, a police officer from Shivamogga who investigated the case told PTI. This year, the group prepared an improvised explosive device to carry out destruction and tested it on the banks of the Tunga river. Their next target was to carry out explosions in various parts of Karnataka, the officer said.
"Shariq had made the gang members into believing that the independence India got from the British was not a real one. They need to struggle further to establish a Caliphate. Only then, India will get freedom", the Shivamogga-based terror module members had told the investigating police team then.