Mysore/Mysuru: In November 2022, Mohamed Shariq had rented a room at Lokanayakanagar near Metagalli in Mysuru using a fake identity.

During a Police search of the premises, three pressure cookers and several materials and tools used for making Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were recovered.

The house, bearing No. 434 on Sanjeevini Main Road, 10th Cross, near the Ring Road, was owned by a 62-year-old woman who resides in the front portion. A narrow passage in the house leads to a small rear room that had been rented out to Mohamed Shariq.

While taking the room on a monthly rent of Rs. 1,800, Mohamed Shariq identified himself as ‘Premraj Hutagi’ and produced an Aadhaar card carrying a Hubballi address. He told the house owner that he was in Mysuru for mobile repair training at a shop in Agrahara.

Investigations later revealed that Mohamed Shariq had stolen the identity of a Railway employee named Premraj Hutagi, a resident of Hubballi.

Premraj Hutagi subsequently told Police that he had lost his Aadhaar card twice in the  last two years.

Kodagu homestay link

Tracing Mohamed Shariq’s movements, NIA sleuths raided a homestay near a forested area in West Nemmale village in Kodagu in December 2022, where the owner was subjected to intense questioning.

The homestay falls under the jurisdiction of T. Shettigeri Gram Panchayat and is located adjacent to a Tata Tea estate. During interrogation, the NIA learnt that Mohamed Shariq had attended a training camp organised there in May 2022.

A Hyderabad-based firm had conducted a 3-day camp, involving activities such as forest stay, bamboo product preparation, trekking and movement inside forest areas.

The NIA also found that, apart from Mohamed Shariq, another accused arrested in the case had attended the training at the same homestay.