Bengaluru: As Bengaluru’s The Rameshwaram Cafe is all set to reopen on March 8, a week after an IED explosion was reported here that injured at least 10 people. Security has been beefed up at the cafe to prevent any untoward incident from happening. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, deputy CM D K Shivakumar, and state home minister G Parameshwara are expected to attend the reopening event. 

According to sources, the cafe will be thrown open to the public from Saturday, March 9. After the bomb blast, the administration has enhanced the security measures as metal detectors have been placed at the eatery, and an individual has been hired to keep an eye on all customers and any suspicious activity. 

Hoteliers associations in Bengaluru have also discussed enhancing the security measures. The CEO and Co-founder of Rameshwaram Cafe, Raghvendra Rao, said that it was a wakeup call for them to enhance security. Rao expressed gratitude to people of Bengaluru for supporting them in tough times.

Rao said, “It has been a tough journey. We thank the people for standing by us. This is a wake up call for us to enhance our security. We thank the central government and agencies, state government and state agencies. We have extended all our support and cooperation to the investigation agencies.”

Whereas, the founder of the cafe, Divya Rao, exuded confidence in the probe agencies. Divya Rao said, “We are happy that we are reopening today. We are confident that the culprits will be nabbed. We will grow in times to come.”

Meanwhile, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has got a big breakthrough in the Rameshwaram Cafe bomb blast case in Bengaluru as the agency collected some vital leads while tracking the suspected bomber's footsteps across Karnataka. Based on the CCTV footage and other technical surveillance, the probe agency found that the suspected bomber was first spotted near the Silk Board. Sources suggest that the CCTV footage collected near the Silk Board established the bomber’s presence at the site.

The sources further claimed that the suspect travelled to Marathahalli via Bellandur from Silk Board. Later, he got off the bus at Marathalli and boarded another bus to Kundalahalli from there to the RXDX hospital.

The NIA has announced Rs 10 lakh cash reward for information about the bomber.