NIA arrests B'luru Church Street blast accused after 1 year

In a major headway more than a year after the Church Street blast here, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday arrested the prime accused in the case, in which a woman was killed and three others were injured.

The NIA said he wanted to plant an IED inside the Coconut Grove Bar and Restaurant as per instruction from his handler, who had informed him about the probable visit of an Israeli delegation for dinner on December 28, 2014.

"The NIA has today arrested one Mohd Rafeeq alias Jaweed alias Alam Jeb Afridi, S/o Masukar Ahmad, resident of Ahmedabad, for his involvement in the Church Street Blast Case of Bangalore," the agency said. A NIA Special Court has remanded Afridi to 10-day NIA custody, it said. A blast was triggered by an IED outside the popular restaurant located on a busy road in the heart of the city in the night.

The NIA said Afridi, a SIMI cadre, was also wanted in a case relating to organisation of a terrorist training camp by Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) at Waghamon in Kerala. He was on the run for more than five years and a reward of Rs 3 lakh had been announced by the NIA for any information leading to his arrest, it said in a release.

Afridi had been residing on outskirts of Bengaluru for nearly three years and was working as a air conditioners mechanic, NIA said. During custody, he has confessed his involvement in the Church Street blast, it said.

The case was initially being investigated by the city police and was later handed over to the NIA. 

The probe did not see any headway under the police even after they claimed to have zeroed in on some terror groups and sketches of suspects being drawn. The police had even brought two suspects from Patna, who were charged with the serial blasts at Narendra Modi’s Hunkar rally in 2013 in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.