A cloth merchant from Kaul Bazaar in Ballari district in Karnataka and a PFI cadre have been detained by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Central Crime Branch (CCB) in their joint investigation of the March 1 blast at the Rameshwaram Cafe, sources said on Friday.

The teams suspect that one of the two, who was an active member of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), was part of the plot.