Karnataka government issues order handing over probe into Mangaluru blast case to NIA

BENGALURU: The Karnataka government on Thursday issued an order to hand over the investigation into Mangaluru blast case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The state government has written to the Ministry of Home Affairs recommending an NIA investigation into the case, state Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said in a statement.

According to government sources, the Additional Chief Secretary in the Home Department in his letter to the Union Home Secretary said the state police has invoked section 16, 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. "As this is a scheduled offence under section 6 of the NIA Act, 2008, the matter is being submitted for further necessary action," the ACS wrote in his letter to the Home Ministry recommending an NIA probe.

The Karnataka Director General of Police Praveen Sood had said that the NIA and other central agencies are already working with the state police in cracking the case from the day one even before getting a formal direction from the Centre. On November 19, an explosion took place in an autorickshaw within Kankanadi police station limits, injuring the passenger and the driver.

Police called it a terror act and blamed the passenger, identified as Mohammed Shariq, responsible for the incident.