Special NIA court accepts guilty plea of key accused in Mangaluru cooker blast case
Bengaluru: Mohammed Shariq, the main accused in the 2022 Mangaluru cooker bomb blast case, filed a guilty plea that was approved by a special court for terrorism crimes in Bengaluru. A new hearing date has been scheduled by the court to formally record his plea.
The Indian Express reported that the explosion happened on November 19, 2022, inside an autorickshaw in Mangaluru. On April 20, 2024, Shariq, a 27-year-old Shivamogga resident, first entered a not guilty plea to charges relating to terrorism. Later, in December 2025, he filed a motion under Section 229 of the Cr.P.C. to enter a guilty plea, which the court granted on March 26.
In its order, the special court said the application filed by accused No.1 Mohammed Shariq under Section 229 of the Cr.P.C. was allowed and that it was necessary to record his plea again after reading out the charges framed earlier on April 20, 2024.
Shariq sustained severe burn injuries when the improvised explosive device he was allegedly carrying detonated on his lap due to an alleged error in setting the timer. He was arrested by the National Investigation Agency after being discharged from a hospital in Mangaluru.
Investigators have described Shariq as an alleged member of an Islamic State-linked module based in Shivamogga, suspected to be involved in multiple terror-related incidents in Karnataka since 2020. He was already wanted in a terror case registered in Shivamogga in September 2022 in connection with alleged testing of improvised explosive devices.
According to the investigation, members of the Shivamogga module are also accused in the March 1, 2024 blast at the Rameshwaram Cafe in Bengaluru. The device used in that case was said to be similar in nature to the one allegedly carried by Shariq in Mangaluru. Mussavir Hussain, described as a founding member of the module, and Abdul Matheen Taha have been arrested in connection with that case.
The module is suspected to have received over Rs 3 lakh in cryptocurrency from handlers between 2020 and 2022. Investigators have alleged that Shariq trained others in assembling IEDs. He had also allegedly transferred cryptocurrency funds to Syed Yasin to the account of a co-accused in the Mangaluru case for procuring materials to test a device in Shivamogga during August-September 2022.
Shariq who is a Bachelor of Commerce graduate, had earlier been arrested in 2020 for painting anti-national graffiti in Mangaluru. He had also spent eight months in jail in 2021 in a related case. He has not sought to plead guilty in the 2022 Shivamogga IED testing case.
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Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
