New Delhi, April 22 (UNI) A total of seven accused persons, including mastermind and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) member T. Naseer, have been sentenced by a special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the 2023 Bengaluru prison radicalisation case.
Apart from Naseer, the court has sentenced Syed Suhail Khan, Mohammed Umar, Zahid Tabrez, Syed Mudassir Pasha, Mohammed Faisal Rabbani, and Salman Khan to seven years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 48,000 under various sections of the IPC, UAPA, Arms Act, and Explosive Substances Act.
The accused had earlier pleaded guilty to the charges filed by the NIA in the case, which relates to a LeT-linked terror conspiracy hatched inside the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru by T. Naseer. The conspiracy involved the identification, recruitment, training, conversion, and radicalisation of gullible youth lodged in the prison to carry out terror activities in India.
The case was initially registered by the Bengaluru Central Crime Branch (CCB) in July 2023 following the seizure of arms, ammunition, and digital devices from habitual offenders. The accused had planned to carry out terror strikes in Bengaluru in furtherance of the violent anti-India agenda of the proscribed LeT terror outfit.
The case was later taken over by the NIA, which uncovered a larger conspiracy to facilitate the escape of T. Naseer, a life convict in several terror cases, while he was being transported from prison to court. At the time, Naseer was an undertrial prisoner in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blast cases.
Following a meticulous investigation, the NIA had chargesheeted 11 arrested accused and one absconder, identified as Junaid Ahmed, in the case. Of these, Salman Khan was arrested after being successfully extradited from the Republic of Rwanda as a result of coordinated efforts by the NIA and concerned agencies in Rwanda. Efforts are ongoing to track and arrest Junaid Ahmed.
UNI ATK AAB