Hyderabad artist releases 'sketches' of Bengaluru cafe bomber

Samudrala told DH that he specialised in 'human portraits' and sketched the suspect as a service to the public and was not contacted by any agency or police.

Bengaluru: A professional artist based in Hyderabad has released what he believes are sketches of the suspected bomber in the Rameshwaram Cafe blast case based on the wanted poster released recently by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the case and the available CCTV footage.

“Hope it will Be Useful, Suspect Imagination Sketches,” Harsha Samudrala, 35, posted on 'X' (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday and tagged the NIA, Bengaluru police and the Bengaluru police commissioner.

The bomber, suspected to have triggered the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at the Rameshwaram Cafe in Whitefield’s Brookefield area on March 1, injuring 10, has remained elusive. The NIA, which took over the probe on Monday, released a ‘wanted’ poster on Wednesday, announcing a reward of Rs 10 lakh for information on the suspect.

Speaking to DH, Samudrala, who was in Bengaluru on Wednesday for an event, said he specialised in 'human portraits' and sketched the suspect as a “service to the public”.

“It took me 30-40 minutes to physically pencil sketch the portrait and I used my imagination after seeing the poster and the CCTV footage,” Samudrala, currently a freelancer, said. “I was browsing social media on Wednesday evening and found the NIA poster.”

Explaining the sketch, the artist said, “I zoomed on the photograph and used a bit of my imagination to conclude that the person had a light, groomed beard. Based on the photograph, it appears that he had slim cheeks and a curved chin. His upper lip was not visible because of the thick moustache but the lower lip was visible due to the trimmed beard. Based on the type of the cap he wore, it appears he has short hair or a balding head.”

The frame of the spectacle the suspect wore was thick and broad, Samudrala, a professional artist since 2011, said. "It appears the spectacle had power for vision and was not fashionable."

Samudrala said that he was not contacted by any agency or police and hoped that the sketch would aid the investigators. “In 2019, following a gang rape at Hyderabad, I had done sketches of the four suspects. They were subsequently caught,” the artist claimed.