Madikeri: The NIA sleuths, who are investigating the Mangaluru autorickshaw-cooker bomb blast case, have traced the footsteps of the prime accused Mohammed Shariq in Kodagu district at a remote village in the Southern part.

A home stay near a forest area at West Nemmale village has been raided by a team of officers early on Sunday and its owner has been subjected to intense interrogation. He has now been asked to come to Mangaluru to assist in the investigation and record his version.

The home stay comes under the jurisdiction of T. Shettigeri village Panchayat and is adjacent to TATA Tea Estate. Grilling Shariq who is in NIA custody-cum-hospital as he suffered 40 percent burns in the blast, the NIA team has learnt that he had attended a  training camp organised there in May this year.

Shariq told investigators that a Hyderabad-based firm had organised a three-day camp for public on staying in forests, preparing bamboo products, trekking and moving inside forests.

The NIA team also learnt that apart from Shariq, another accused arrested in the case too had come to the home stay for the training and in all, 14 members had participated in the camp. Shariq told the investigators that the information about the camp was circulated on social media and they had attended the camp based on the info.

The NIA team that visited the home stay collected documents and other records from the owner and have obtained the contact details and addresses of all the 14 members who had participated in the training camp along with the camp organisers. Investigations are on to verify the antecedents of other participants of the camp and the organisers to ascertain if there is a terror angle, sources said.