Bengaluru: A team of National Investigation Agency officers from Hyderabad arrived in Mysuru on Tuesday. The low-intensity pressure cooker bomb, which exploded at around 4.10 pm on August 1 inside a public toilet in the Principal District Judge Court in Mysuru, was reportedly executed by a "local" sleeper cell of the banned terrorist organization – Indian Mujahideen (IM), which could have been activated by the IM co-founder and absconding terror fugitive Riyaz Shahbandari alias Bhatkal.
“Though it is too early to hazard a guess, the motive could have been to either target the VIPs, who had gathered in Mysuru for the funeral of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's son Rakesh or create panic in the crowd of thousands, who had converged there for the occasion. The perpetrators may have developed cold feet at heavy police presence and left the IED in the public toilet of the court. The IED comprised of gun powder and other explosives and was triggered by a timer device,” said an official source.
Meanwhile, a team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) officers from Hyderabad arrived in Mysuru on Tuesday. "The NIA along with the Internal Security Division (ISD) are conducting the investigation. We will discuss and take a decision on whether to transfer the case to the NIA. A case has been registered in Lakshmipura police station in Mysuru on Monday," said Director General and Inspector General of Police Om Prakash. Director General of Police, ISD, Neelmani Raju on Tuesday morning visited the spot and is supervising the investigation.
Pressure cooker bombs were used by the IM in the serial train blasts in Mumbai on July 7, 2006, which had claimed more than 200 lives and injured thousands of others. As per the statement of IM co-founder Sadiq Sheikh, the
7/11 serial train blasts were allegedly conducted at the behest of Riyaz, who is now said to be in Pakistan under the protection of their Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
