CHENNAI: Sleuths from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) are carrying out searches over 10 premises in Tamil Nadu including 6 locations in Chennai in connection with the March 1 Rameshwaram Cafe blast in Bengaluru, which left many injured.
Other locations are in Southern TN, sources said here.
The NIA had identified the man who placed the explosives at the Bengaluru cafe as Musavir Hussain Shazib, a native of Theerthahali in Shivamogga district in Karnataka.
He had reportedly stayed in lodges along with his associate Abdul Mathern Taha in Triplicane in Chennai, nearly for a month before he travelled to Bengaluru and detonated the bomb at the Cafe.
Both carry rewards on any information on them and the duo was involved in a 2020 case of explosion and have been in the wanted list of NIA since then.
According to sources NIA investigators are trying to find out who had provided logistic support while they were in Chennai and preparing for the act in the Garden City.
The NIA team found that the two were in Chennai, after browsing through 1000 of CCTV footage. A cap, which was left behind at a mosque rest room by the suspect, had helped the sleuths to track the suspects' previous activities in Chennai.
The NIA team is yet to find out details of persons who provided the suspects with the explosives and funding.