Bengaluru

The Karnataka government has handed over the investigation of Mangaluru cooker blast case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on Thursday said that the state government has taken a decision to hand over the case to NIA and passed the order in this regard.

It is recommended to investigate the case under the provision of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The state government had taken this decision after following the evidence and inputs gathered during the investigation of the cooker blast case, the Minister added.

The decision had also been taken after the Islamic Resistance Council, an unknown Islamic outfit, claimed responsibility for the November 19 Mangaluru auto blast and warned of another attack in future.

The outfit has also warned the Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), Alok Kumar, who is present at Mangaluru and personally monitoring the investigations into the blast case. "Alokkumar your joy would be short-lived. You pay for your acts of dominance sooner," the outfit warned.

The police sources have confirmed that they have taken the warning seriously. The probe in this regard has already been initiated by central probe agencies. The probe has also revealed that the conspiracy was hatched to carry out blasts and put blame on Hindu organisations and to reignite a debate on 'Hindu terrorism' in the country.

The blast occurred on November 19 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.

The probe revealed that the attacker Mohammad Shariq, who is in hospital with critical burn injuries, initially targeted the Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's programme and later wanted to blast it at a children's fest organised by one of the institutions affiliated to the RSS.