Bengaluru cafe blast: Cafe to reopen Saturday morning, NIA releases video footage of suspect in bus

BENGALURU: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday released a new video on its X handle, seeking people’s help in identifying the suspect in the Rameshwaram cafe blast case. The suspect was caught on a CCTV camera in a Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus.

The NIA had taken over the investigation last week and had released a picture of the suspect, announcing a bounty of Rs 10 lakh to anyone who came forward with information about him. The informers would be anonymous, the agency had promised. In the new video, the suspect, wearing a cap and mask, and carrying a bag, can be seen boarding the bus and changing seats.

Rameshwaram cafe is set to reopen on Saturday, nearly a week after a suspected IED blast blew up its outlet in the city's tech hub. “At 6.30 a.m., the cafe will open with the singing of the National Anthem. It is our mantra,” Raghavendra Rao, owner of Rameswaram Cafe, said.


The cafe, he added, had taken every precaution before reopening. “We have given all CCTV footage and information to the authorities. We are cooperating with them. We are very thankful to the government for helping us reopen the cafe so soon,” he said.

The blast had occurred on March 1, when an IED explosion was set off in the cafe in the heart of the city’s tech hub, injuring 10 people. CCTV footage showed a bearded man wearing a mask, cap and spectacles leaving a bag behind in the cafe, which detonated about an hour after he left.