A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Lucknow has sentenced to death seven ISIS-linked terrorists, while awarding life imprisonment to an associate in the 2017 Kanpur ISIS case.
In Gujarat, another NIA special court awarded two brothers to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in the ISIS Rajkot case in which the duo was convicted for radicalising and recruiting people to carry out terror acts in the country in the name of the global terror group. With these two convictions, the conviction rate of NIA stands at 93.69 percent.
“The NIA sets standards of investigation and prosecution yet again. Continuing the tradition of evidence-based investigations, which rely on scientifically collected hard evidence, the NIA has achieved yet another milestone. In two separate judgments, NIA Special Courts at Lucknow and Ahmedabad have pronounced sentences for a total of 10 accused,” the federal anti-terror probe agency said in a statement.
Both cases relate to online radicalisation of the accused in the name of ISIS, their motivation to commit violent Jihad and cause terror attacks in the country, it said.
The eight accused from Uttar Pradesh —Atif Muzaffar, Mohammad Danish, Asif Iqbal alias Rocky, Mohammad Atif alias Atif Iraqi, Mohammad Faisal, Mohammad Azhar and Gauss Mohammad Khan all hailing from Kanpur Nagar, and Sayed Meer Hussain of Kannauj, along with deceased Md Saifullah, had set up a hideout in Haji Colony in Lucknow, the NIA said.
“They had prepared and tested some IEDs and had unsuccessfully tried to plant them at various locations in UP. Investigations have led to discovery of several photographs of the accused making IEDs and even with weapons, ammunition and ISIS flag,” it said.
The group had reportedly collected illegal weapons, and explosives from various places. Atif and three others, identified as Md Danish, Sayed Meer Hussain and Md Saifulla, had been responsible for fabricating the IED that was planted in the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train. The train explosion on March 7, 2017 had left 10 passengers injured.
“All eight had come together to propagate ISIS ideology and promote its activities in India. In pursuit of this objective, Mohammad Faisal, Gauss Mohammad Khan, Atif Muzaffar, Md Danish, Md Saifulla had explored land routes. They had visited several key cities across the country, including Kolkata, Sundarbans, Srinagar, Amritsar, Wagah Border, Badmer, Jaisalmer, Mumbai, and Kozhikode, for undertaking ‘hijrah’ (migration),” it said.
Gauss Mohammad Khan and Atif Muzaffar had, in fact, explored a route to cross over to Bangladesh via Sundarbans, as per investigations.
Faisal, Atif and Saifulla had also travelled to Kashmir in March 2016 in a bid to contact some terrorist groups that could help them to cross over to Pakistan, from where they could migrate to ISIS-controlled territories in Syria. Another accused, Saifulla, was killed during an exchange of fire with Anti-Terrorism Squad of Uttar Pradesh on March 7, 2017 in Haji Colony.
The case was initially registered as FIR No. 03/2017 dated March 8, 2017 at police station ATS, Lucknow and re-registered by the NIA on March 14, 2017. After investigations, a chargesheet was filed against the eight accused on August 31, 2017. Post the trial, the eight accused persons were convicted on February 24.
On Tuesday, NIA Special Judge, Lucknow Court pronounced sentence convicting accused under various offences of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Arms Act and Explosive Substances Act.
Seven of the accused —Mohammad Faisal, Gauss Mohammad Khan, Mohammad Azhar, Atif Muzaffar, Mohammad Danish, Sayed Meer Hussain and Asif Iqbal alias Rocky--have been awarded death penalty.
Mohammad Atif alias Atif Iraqi has been sentenced with life imprisonment.
In the other ISIS case of Rajkot, the NIA Special Court has sentenced the two terrorists to ten years rigorous imprisonment.
The case relates to the use of social media platforms, such as Skype and Telegram to radicalise and recruit cadres to carry out terror acts in India in the name of ISIS.
Both accused Vaseem Arif Ramodia alias Ninja Fox and Naeem Arif Ramodia alias ND are brothers and residents of ‘Firdosh’, Nehru Nagar, Raiya Road, Rajkot, Gujarat.
“Investigations have revealed that they used online chats and messages to advocate and spread the ideology of ISIS. They arranged, participated and assisted in organising online discussions and meetings among active ISIS operatives to plan and execute acts of violence and terrorism. They had tried to commit arson by burning vehicles and shops belonging to non-Muslims. They had unsuccessfully tried to fabricate an IED as well,” the NIA said.
On the directions of their online ISIS handlers, both the accused were preparing to carry out a lone-wolf attack at Chotila Temple. They had already reconnoitered the area but they were apprehended before they could carry out the attack, it said.
This case was initially registered as FIR No 01/2017 in Police Station ATS, Ahmedabad, Gujarat and re-registered by NIA on May 25, 2017. Chargesheet was filed against them on August 22, 2017 and after the trial was completed, judgment convicting the accused was pronounced on February 28 this year.