In the Mangaluru cooker bomb investigation, the Enforcement Directorate conducted searches at five locations in Karnataka. Furthermore, searches are being conducted at the Shivamogga home of accused Shariq, the main suspect in the explosion. Additionally, Shariq's family is being looked for. The money laundering case of the federal probe agency is based on an FIR of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Raids conducted at building where Congress office is located
The ED officials conducted raids at a building in Mangaluru, where a Congress party office is also located, apart from some other locations, as part of gathering documents and pieces of evidence for the case filed under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
According to sources, the agency searched an office in that building, but no raids were carried out on the premises of any political party. Searches were also conducted at some other places, they said.
What is the case about?
A bomb blast took place in an autorickshaw on the outskirts of Mangaluru on November 19 of last year, and the man who was allegedly handling the explosives in the three-wheeler, Mohammed Shariq, is the main suspect in the case.
He suffered 40 percent burns in the blast, and, according to police, Shariq and his accomplices were allegedly inspired by the terror outfit Islamic State and were in touch with it through the Telegram messaging application.
Police also said their handlers outside India had sent a document to guide them in making a bomb.
Using the document, police had said, they made a bomb and carried out a trial on the banks of Tunga river near Shivamogga district in Karnataka. The state police had said there was a plan to unleash large-scale destruction across Karnataka.
Due to violence on August 15 last year over the Hindutva ideologue V Savarkar in Shivamogga, the police had unearthed an IS-inspired terror module, but Shariq had given the police the slip.
The case was transferred to the NIA later.
(With Agency Inputs)
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