MANGULURU: As the probe into the Mangaluru blasts deepens; videos of fugitive Islamic preacher Zakir Naik have surfaced from the mobile phone of accused Mohammed Shariq, police said on Friday.
Shivamogga police confirmed that accused Shariq used to share Zakri Naiks videos with Maz Muneer, Yasin, and Zabi to radicalize them.
The state government meanwhile has handed over the case to NIA for further investigation. The police have been instructed to submit all evidence gathered so far to the agency. The decision came against the backdrop of the Islamic Resistance Council, an unknown Islamic outfit, claiming responsibility for the November 19 Mangaluru auto blast and warned of another attack in the future.
The police have also retrieved bomb-making videos from his mobile. After visiting the spot on Friday, Minister for Power, Kannada, and Culture V. Sunil Kumar said that the central government is contemplating establishing an NIA unit in Karnataka.
The 24-year-old Md Shariq on Nov 19th initially targeted Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s program and later wanted to blast it at a children’s fest organized by one of the institutions affiliated with the RSS. The blast occurred in a moving auto. The cooker bomb was designed to carry out a large-scale attack to fuel communal tensions in the coastal region and in the state.