Suspect seen in CCTV footage may have faked phone usage ahead of Bengaluru Rameshwaram Cafe blast

The suspect in the bomb blast who is yet to be identified is seen on CCTV using a phone while entering the cafe at around 11.40 am on March 1 and leaving at around 11.50 am – after eating a snack and planting the IED. He is also seen pretending to be using his cell phone while being seated in a corner where a bag with an IED was left behind.

While police investigations are looking at the cell tower dump data for the period when the suspect was in the restaurant and its vicinity to identify the cell phones that were in use, there are doubts about whether the suspect was actually using a cell phone or merely pretending to camouflage his presence.

“When a phone is in use there is a light that comes on but, in this case, the screen of the phone remains blank,” a source pointed out.

The Bengaluru police are tracking extensive CCTV footage that shows the commute of the suspected bomber to the cafe on March 1 and his exit from the cafe an hour before the IED exploded at 12.56 pm. The blast injured nine people.

The effect of the blast was reduced on account of shrapnel-like nuts and bolts planted in the device flying upwards to the ceiling of the ground floor rather than flying sideways through the packed restaurant.

“There were nuts and nails in the IED but it hit the roof when it exploded. Fortunately, it has saved many lives. If it had exploded sideways the intensity would have been severe,” Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said on Sunday.

CCTV footage along the route of the suspect’s commute shows him getting off a bus at a bus stand near the cafe and possibly arming the IED by opening the bag. CCTV footage also shows the suspect arriving at the restaurant and seemingly using his cell phone.

He is later seen in the cafe carrying a rava idli to a seat in a corner of the restaurant. The suspect ordered the snack by paying cash and spoke in English, the cafe staff have indicated.

The CCTV footage that the police have collected as part of the probe has revealed that the suspect arrived in a city bus with the number 500 D and got off at the Kundalahalli bus stand located right next to the cafe before walking to the cafe. The CCTV footage collected by the police also shows him leaving before the blast while seemingly using his cell phone.

Claiming that the materials and equipment used in the café blast were similar to the ones used in the 2022 Mangaluru and Shivamogga blast incidents, Karnataka Deputy CM D K Shivakumar last week said the face of the suspect was captured on CCTV despite him wearing a cap and glasses.

Meanwhile, the National Investigation Agency has been asked to take over the Rameshwaram Café blast case.