Reverberations from a blast in Mangaluru Premium

Known for its natural beauty and mild-mannered residents, Thirthahalli town finds itself in the news for an ‘Islamic terror module’ allegedly put together by a group of local men. G.T. Sathish and K.V. Aditya Bharadwaj speak to the bewildered people of the town in Karnataka as well as the officers investigating the recent cooker blast in Mangaluru

“Welcome to prosperous Malnad known for people of sadbhava (good thoughts) and sajjanike (good conduct),” reads a board at an autorickshaw stand in Thirthahalli, a picturesque town in Shivamogga district in Karnataka. Nestled in the foothills of the Western Ghats and located on the banks of the river Tunga, Thirthahalli is known for its contributions to literature and the socialist movement. Residents of the town say Hindus and Muslims have always enjoyed an interdependent social life. But over the last few weeks, Thirthahalli has been in the news for the wrong reason — specifically, for being the place from where the majority of a group accused of devising an “Islamic terror module” hail.

On November 19, more than 130 km away from Thirthahalli in the coastal city of Mangaluru, a moving autorickshaw caught fire, causing serious injuries to both the driver and the passenger. The fire began in a pressure cooker, rigged with an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) that the passenger, Mohammed Shariq, was carrying, said the police. Shariq, 24, the suspect in the case, is a wanted terror-accused from Thirthahalli. While the intended target of the IED is not known, the blast was accidentally triggered, perhaps because the explosive material heated up. Earlier this week, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the case. Shariq is being treated for burn injuries and is not in a position to speak.

Shariq was earlier arrested in November 2020, along with his friend and classmate Maaz Muneer Ahmed, for scribbling pro-terror graffiti in Mangaluru. While Maaz, 24, who is also from Thirthahalli, got bail in two months, Shariq was released after eight months. This year, the Shivamogga Police again arrested Maaz and his classmate Syed Yasin, who is from Shivamogga. They alleged that the two men had carried out a trial blast of an IED on the banks of the Tunga and burnt the tricolour in September 2022. Shariq, by then, had fled Thirthahalli.

According to the police, Shariq’s “immediate handler”, Arafat Ali, is in Dubai. Ali is also a native of Thirthahalli. Besides Shariq, Maaz and Ali, two others from Thirthahalli — Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taha and Muzabbir Hussain — accused in the ‘Al Hind Islamic State Bengaluru terror module case’, have been on the run for the past three years. The NIA has declared a reward of ₹3 lakh for information on Taha, who is suspected to be the kingpin of this alleged module.

“All the six men seem to be influenced by the ideology of the Islamic State. They were radicalised via the Internet. We have evidence to show that at least two young men were members of an Islamic State group on Telegram. We have recovered several DIY (do it yourself) videos on making IEDs, videos of a test blast they carried out, and a photo that Shariq took of himself with the IED rigged cooker before leaving for Mangaluru,” said a senior police official overseeing the probe.

The Karnataka Police and the NIA have been conducting intensive searches in Thirthahalli, which is Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra’s Assembly constituency. The police and sections of the media now refer to the accused in the case as “Thirthahalli Boys”, similar to how the “Bhatkal Brothers” once dominated the narrative of Islamist terror.

Those who knew Shariq’s family well in Thirthahalli spoke of his humble background. Shariq lost his mother early. He dropped out of II Pre-University (Class 12) and began helping his father in the cloth shop he had in town. Shariq often visited Mangaluru, where Maaz was studying engineering. “When he was arrested for pro-terror wall writing, his father was devastated. He tried hard to get him out,” said a person known to the family for years.