NIA files charges in Mangaluru blast case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday filed a chargesheet against two accused in the Islamic State (IS) sponsored pressure cooker blast that took place in Mangaluru in Karnataka in November last year. One of the charge sheeted persons, Mohamed Shariq, had been carrying the pressure cooker IED in an auto-rickshaw when it exploded on November 19, 2022. Shariq was injured in the blast.

"He had planned to plant the IED at Kadri Manjunatha Temple, Mangaluru, to create terror among the Hindus but the low intensify bomb accidentally exploded on the way," NIA said in a statement on Wednesday. The federal agency had taken over the probe in the blast on November 23, 2022, and Shariq was arrested along with his associate Syed Shariq in July this year.

The agency said that Shariq and Syed, along with an online handler, had planned the explosion as part of a conspiracy to establish a Caliphate.


"In pursuance of the conspiracy, Mohamed Shariq had prepared the pressure cooker IED and Syed Yasin had provided material support for the explosive. Mohammed Shariq had first come on the radar of the security forces in November 2020 when he was arrested by the state police for putting up a pro-terror graffiti in Mangaluru city. Shariq and his associates had put up the graffiti in support of the global terror outfit, the Islamic State (IS)," the NIA statement said.

Subsequently, Shariq was also named in the Shivamogga Islamic State Conspiracy Case of 2022, in which 10 accused have been arrested so far. Of the 10 arrested, nine, including Shariq and Syed Yasin, were charge sheeted on June 30 for radicalising and recruiting gullible Muslim youth, raising funds, and further conducting trial blasts to further the anti-India activities of IS.