Hyderabad artist sketches bring alive Rameshwaram Cafe blast suspect

Hyderabad artist sketches suspect in Rameshwaram Cafe blast.

As the suspect in the Rameshwaram Cafe blast remains elusive with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) announcing a ₹10 lakh bounty for information, a Hyderabad-based artist has used one of the CCTV-captures to sketch the person of interest.   

The 35-year-old artist Harsha Samudrala, who lives in Kukatpally, shared three “imagination sketches” of the suspect based on the photograph shared by the NIA. Mr. Harsha also tagged the NIA, Bengaluru Police and Commissioner of Bengaluru police among others in the post. 

In another post, earlier on Thursday, he shared four more sketches, revealing different angles of the suspect as seen in the CCTV footage which has been making rounds on social media since a week. 

Mr. Harsha said his intention was to help the investigation. “If by seeing my sketches, people in the cafe that day can recall the suspect’s face and share their feedback, I can do more sketches too,” he said. 

The Kukatpally-based artist, who currently works as a freelancer, claims to have been sketching professionally for 11 years now. He has not worked with a central investigating agency. However, he has helped individual clients in medical and other investigations. He said he also had sketched the accused in the 2018 gangrape in Hyderabad.

The NIA on Wednesday released a photograph of the suspect’s ‘wanted’ poster and said the identity of the informer will be kept secret. Meanwhile the Hyderabad police have stepped up security measures after the blast.