Mangaluru to get RGUHS regional centre; tender to be floated soon

New Delhi, Nov 29: The National Investigation Agency on Wednesday said that it has filed a charge sheet against two accused -- Mohamed Shariq, who prepared the pressure cooker IED and Syed Shariq who provided material for the explosive -- in connection with the pressure cooker blast that took place in Karnataka's Mangaluru in November last year.

A NIA official here said that the agency filed the charge sheet against the two before a court on Wednesday.

The official 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," the official said.

Mohamed Shariq was carrying the pressure cooker IED in an auto-rickshaw when it exploded on November 19 last year. The official said that he had planned to plant the IED at Kadri Manjunatha Temple in Mangaluru, with the aim to spread terror among the Hindu community but the low intensify bomb accidentally exploded on the way.

The case was filed by the NIA on November 23 last year under several sections of the IPC and the Explosive Substances Act.

Shariq was arrested by the NIA in July 2023, along with his co-accused Syed Shariq.

The official pointing out the role of Shariq in other cases said that he had first come on the radar of the security forces in November 2020 when he was arrested by the state police for pro-terror graffiti in Mangaluru city.

"He and his associates had put up the graffiti in support of the global terror outfit, the IS," the official said.

"Subsequently, Shariq was also named in the Shivamogga IS Conspiracy Case of 2022, in which so far 10 accused have been arrested," the official stated.

Of the 10 arrested, nine, including Shariq and Syed Yasin, were charge sheeted on June 30 this year for radicalising and recruiting gullible Muslim youth, raising funds, and conducting a trial blast to further the anti-India activities of the IS. 

The pontiff of the Chitradurga Murugharajendra Bruhan Mutt was arrested on Monday, hours after a Court issued a non-bailable warrant in the second Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act case pending against him.

The Second Additional Sessions Judge B.K. Komala in Chitradurga issued the non-bailable warrant and ordered the police to produce Shivamurthy Sharana before her by Tuesday.

He was in custody since September 1, 2022, and was granted bail by the High Court on November 8 in the first of the two POCSO cases against him, following which he was released from jail here on November 16. After he was set free, the seer was staying at the Virakta Math in Davangere, from where he was arrested by the Chitradurga police today.

The High Court had imposed several conditions for the bail in one of the two POCSO cases against the pontiff, including that he would not be allowed to enter Chitradurga district till the completion of the investigation in the cases. He was granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and two sureties for similar amounts, and warned not to tamper with evidence or influence the witnesses.

The first complaint against the pontiff and four others was filed by the 'Odanadi Seva Samsthe', an NGO, in Mysuru alleging sexual harassment of minor students studying in the mutt's school and staying in its hostel in Chitradurga.

The Nazarabad police in Mysuru had registered a case under POCSO and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The case was transferred to the Chitradurga Rural police station subsequently.

The second case under POCSO was registered after the mother of two minor girls filed a complaint alleging that her two daughters and two other minor girls were sexually assaulted by the seer while they were residing in the hostel in 2019 and 2022.

The complaint also alleged that the junior seer Basavaditya and others including Paramashivaiah, Gangadhar, Mahalinga and Karibasappa were involved. Paramashivaiah's name was dropped from the chargesheet in the second case subsequently.

Mangaluru: In a shocking development, a 23-year-old woman killed her four-and-a-half-month-old baby and ended her life by suicide at an apartment at Gujjarakere in the city on Saturday, December 2.

The deceased are Fathima Rukiya, 23, and her son Abdulla Hood. 

Police said Rukiya, who married Dr Muhammad Unais 18 months ago, had given birth to a son in July this year. Rukiya had slipped into depression after the delivery and was undergoing treatment for the same.

Rukiya allegedly drowned her son in a plastic tub filled with water and later hanged herself from the window grills of the flat. 

The incident occurred when no one was at home, said police commissioner Anupam Agrawal. 

A case has been registered at Mangaluru South police station and investigation has commenced.