Bengaluru Cafe Blast Suspect Seen Without Mask in Fresh Photos; NIA Recovers His ‘Cap Outside Nearby Mosque’

Fresh images of Bengaluru cafe blast suspect has emerged. The photos show the suspect travelling on a bus without a cap and mask.

Sources told News18 that the suspect’s baseball cap has also been recovered by National Investigation Agency (NIA) outside a nearby mosque. A source said that it seems that the Bangalore suspect changed his clothes after the blast.

Some aspects of the identity of the suspect was revealed through the CCTV trail of March 1, when the bomb blast at the The Rameshwaram Cafe in the Whitefield area of Bengaluru injured nine people.

The CCTV cameras have captured suspect’s arrival in a public bus at a bus stop located about 100 metres from the cafe at around 10.45 am, his entry into the cafe at 11.34 am, exit at 11.43 am, and subsequent walk to a bus stop over a kilometre away for his escape using public buses.

On Wednesday, the NIA announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for information about the suspect and also posted his CCTV grab.

A report in Indian Express quoted its sources as saying that the CCTV trail of the suspect — from his arrival to his escape, an hour before the 12.56 pm blast at the cafe — has provided some key leads including his facial features.

The publication’s sources indicated that the suspect travelled in multiple public buses — both to plant the IED he was carrying and to flee the scene — and made multiple stopovers, including at a Muslim religious centre a few kilometres from the site of the incident during the getaway process.

The IE, on Wednesday, quoted it sources as saying that a baseball cap that the suspect was wearing during his presence at the cafe has been found at one of the locations where a stopover was made during the getaway.

The suspect changed his attire during a stopover where the cap was discarded, the sources were further quoted.