Bengaluru (The Hawk): According to authorities, Mohammad Shariq, the man suspected in the Mangaluru auto blast, planned to set off an explosive at a children's festival put on by a group connected to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
According to them, the investigating teams discovered that Shariq intended to carry out the explosion at the state-level kid carnival put on by the RSS-affiliated Keshava Smrithi Samvardhana Samithi.
On November 19, a programme was held at Sanghaniketan, and more than 10,000 people came with their kids. A number of prominent RSS leaders were also there. The accused intended to carry out the explosion while pretending to be a student and attend the programme.
The accused's confiscated Android phone revealed that on November 19, the day of the explosion, he had repeatedly looked for the Mannagudda-Gandhinagar region after arriving in Mangaluru.
The intelligence services' sources have established that the accused terrorist's original plan was to detonate the bomb during a function honouring Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. His intentions, however, were altered when he failed to catch the bus at the Mysuru boarding location to get to Mangaluru.
Later, he travelled to Mangaluru through another bus that followed the Mysuru-Madikeri-Puttur route. The sources claimed that while on the road, the terror suspect was observed looking up his position approximately eight times to determine exactly when he would arrive in Mangaluru.
The accused Mohammad Shariq twice searched for the Mannagudda-Gandhinagar site, where the children's festival was held, according to the police's analysis of his Google search history.
According to sources, Chief Minister Bommai's schedule was also set at Sanghaniketan on November 19. Although bomb squads and dog squads had also visited the location, his presentation was abruptly cancelled.
After the explosion, suspected terrorist Mohammad Shariq's lungs were filled with smoke, and the explosion hurt his throat. He might need 25 days of treatment, according to the police.
The agencies will question him about his targets and his support network once he has been given the all-clear medically to get to the bottom of the terror network.
(Inputs from Agencies)