Mangaluru blast
Mangaluru blast case: Key accused identified as Shariq
Mangaluru: Mangaluru police on Sunday said it has identified the suspect in auto rickshaw blast case as Shariq who has suspected links with terror group Islamic State.
"We have identified the suspect in the Mangaluru blast case as Shariq. He was one of the three suspects wanted in Shivamogga trial bomb blast case. They had carried a trial bomb blasts at Tunga River earlier this year," police told UNI.
Other two accused in Shivamogga case, Maaz and Sayed Yaseen, have already been arrested by the police.
Shariq also was a suspect in a stabbing case of one Prem Singh over Savarkar poster in Shivamogga.
Shariq is currently hospitalised and undergoing treatment for burn injuries which he sustained in Mangaluru blast that took place in a moving auto rickshaw on Saturday evening.
He allegedly misused the Aadhaar card of one Prem Raj and rented a house in Mysuru before traveling to Mangaluru, police said.
Earlier in the morning, Karnataka DGP Praveen Sood confirmed that the Mangaluru blast was not an accident, but an act of terror.
"It's confirmed now. The blast is not accidental but an act of terror with intention to cause serious damage," he tweeted.
The Karnataka Police, he further added, is probing deep into it along with central security forces.
Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra also onfirmed the terror act and saiud more details will be shared on it in next two days or before.
Meanwhile, a five-member NIA team visited the blast site amidst reports of Mangaluru blast case being linked to Coimbatore blast case.
During the initial probe, the Mangaluru police found out that the injured passenger impersonated himself by carrying an Aadhar card named after one Prem Raj.
The police also found out that the passenger had used the Aadhar card to purchase a SIM card in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore.
This is a similar kind of modus operandi found during the Coimbatore blast in October where the bomber was impersonating someone by holding the Aadhar card on someone's name. The bomber, who was killed while traveling in a car, was later identified by the police as Mubin.
After the kinks were drawn between Mangaluru and Coimbatore blasts, both the DGPs of the states spoke to each other over phone.
(With UNI inputs)
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