Bengaluru Cafe blast: Cops, NIA look for 'links' in Kolkata, Bengal
Times of India | 15 April 2024
Kolkata: NIA and Bengal police are looking for local "links" who helped the two Bengaluru cafe blast terror suspects hide in the state till their cover was blown leading to their arrest from a New Digha hotel on Friday.
Investigators believe that without the help of locals or someone with a good knowledge of Bengal's geography it would not have been possible for the two terrorists to be holed up in their hideouts for over a month.
The hunt for Mussavir Hussain Shazib, who allegedly planted the bomb at Rameshwaram Cafe on March 1, and Abdul Matheen Taha, suspected mastermind who also charted their escape, went on for 42 days, with the joint efforts of central agencies and police of Bengal, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, UP, Delhi, and Andhra Pradesh.
"The two had possibly tried to flee to Bangladesh from Bengal and that was the reason they had taken shelter in the border state for so many days," said an official.
As per available data, the duo first checked into Hotel Esplanade Inn on SN Banerjee Road in Kolkata on March 12. Next afternoon they entered a budget hotel 200 metres away where they stayed another night.
Investigators have not been able to trace where they had put up between March 14 and March 21. But unconfirmed sources said they might have gone to Purulia or Siliguri. Then they checked into a Kidderpore hotel on March 21 where they stayed for a day. They were found registered at an Ekbalpore hotel for three nights between March 24 and March 28. They had used different IDs, introducing themselves either as tourists or as colleagues on official trips.