‘Bengaluru cafe blast could have been more serious if not for…’: Home Minister Parameshwara reveals

“It is very low intensity. Perhaps the explosives used were of low intensity and quantity might be less too. If the quantity was more then the impact might have been bigger. One angle is that the bolts and nails (splinters/shrapnels) exploded vertically for some reason. If they had exploded horizontally then it might have been more serious, fatal even. It would have caused more injuries,” he said.

Related: Deputy CM, Home minister see similarities with 2022 Mangaluru blast

‘Verifying all the aspects’

“If he (the accused) belongs to any organisation or (has) any other reasons. We are verifying 13 aspects of this (the blast). When we went there, few (people) had suggested that this hotelier was a successful person as he opened 11 branches and also paid advances for the 12th branch as well. Hence, someone who is intolerant about their success might have done this. We will also look into it,” added the home minister.

Parameshwara said one of the angles being probed was to see if it was to terrorise Bengaluru in view of the impending elections. “Elections are approaching. If any organisation is behind it, or if there are some other motives behind it to terrorise people to make Bengaluru look unsafe…,” the Minister added.

“As many investors are coming here in view of a stable government, this might have been done either to stop investors from coming to Bengaluru or due to some other unknown reasons,” Parameshwara said.

“In such an environment, if such acts were carried out in Bengaluru, investors might not come forward to invest here. We don’t know what else the reason could be. But we will ascertain the motive behind this blast despite the difficulty,” Parameshwar said adding that the police will ascertain the motive at the earliest.

Karnataka Home Minister @DrParameshwara told reporters: "The main accused behind this blast has been spotted in CCTV footage. We will nab him at the earliest. It might take a day or two, but we will definitely catch him."

He noted that the elections were nearing, and that the… pic.twitter.com/00GuBN69P6

— South First (@TheSouthfirst) March 3, 2024

Related: Bengaluru’s CCB forms seven teams to solve Rameshwaram Cafe bomb blast case

‘Similar to Mangaluru blast’

On whether there is a link with Mangaluru blast, he said: “The technical aspects (assembling) in Mangaluru cooker bomb blast and here are similar. It doesn’t mean that the same people are involved.”

“If we look into technical aspects — the timer and battery used in both incidents look similar. We will take it forward. We don’t know whether the same organisation have done it. We don’t know yet,” added the home minister.

He continued: “People are giving different statements. My appeal to everyone is that statements should be considered official if either the chief minister, me or the home department gives them. Several people are talking about this, this might put us in a difficult spot.”

On whether it could be business rivalry, he said: “People were talking about this but we are probing from different angles. People were saying to us that this might have been done because of jealousy. We will keep that also in mind.”

On the central agencies investigation, he said: “NIA (National Investigation Agency) and NSG (National Security Guard) are also with us. They are here because they have an idea about the possible involvement of organisations. They will tally that and also do detailed analysis including the explosives utilised.”

“It is a challenge to our police, NSG and NIA as well. After our government came to power, to make Bengaluru a safe City, we spent a lot of money and set up command centres. It has been better to some extent.”

“There is information that he came by bus…26 buses passed there around that time. We went through all the 26 buses. We have found the bus on which he travelled. He was wearing a cap, mask and glasses. We are not getting clarity there as well,” he said.