New Delhi:The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Wednesday that it has attached the funds ISIS- 29,176 was kept in the bank account of an accused in the case of 2022 Mangaluru cooker bomb blast.
The explosion took place on November 19, 2022 in an auto rickshaw on the outskirts of Mangaluru. The person who was allegedly handling explosives in a three-wheeler, was injured as Mohammad Shirik, and was named as the main accused in the case.
The bomb should have been planted in the Dharmasthala Manjunath Swamy Temple of Mangaluru. However, this auto rickshaw exploded as the timer was set in 09 seconds instead of 90 minutes, the federal investigative agency said in a statement.
Earlier, the ED had filed a case under the prevention of the Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in November 2022, taking cognizance of the investigation of a National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the case.
The agency said in a statement that a “bank deposited” 29,176 placed in the bank account of another accused named Syed Yasin on 5 August is provided under the PMLA through an order issued by the Bangalore office of ED.
A charge sheet filed by the NIA in the case said that the blast was part of a plan of Indian terrorist group ISIS, which to spread terror against the Government of India, to threaten wages and India’s integrity and sovereignty.
The agency said that an online ISIS handler named ‘Colonel’ had trained Shirik alias Premraj on Vikra App/Telegram etc. and some other accused to prepare an instantaneous explosive device (IED).
The agency said, “He (Colonel) made arrangements for funds through some mules (illegal) accounts and through cryptocurrency, which were encountered by Yasin and Shariq through POS (Point of Sale) agents,” the agency said.
In some examples, the ED said, Enchesed Cryptocurrency was rooted through “Fino Payments Bank cheated in the Fino Payments Bank”.
“Fund price 2,86,008 were deposited by various cryptocurrency dealers in the accounts and 41,680 was collected in cash. The amount was used to assemble the IED and hiring the hideouts at Mysuru and other places and to purchase some goods online for reconnaissance to various places in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.
The ED said that another accused in the case, Maj Munir, was the person who provided the details of Fino Payments Bank mule accounts to Shariq to receive the payment sent by the online handler, Colonel.
