NIA court sentences three in terror attacks linked to Al-Qaeda

Three men have been sentenced by a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court for involvement in an Al-Qaeda-linked terror conspiracy to carry out attacks in Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Tuesday.

The trio men have been identified as Museeruddin alias Raju and Minhaj Ahmad alias Minhaj of Lucknow, and Tawheed Ahmad Shah alias Sobu Shah, hailing from the district Budgam of Jammu and Kashmir, they said.

The Lucknow special court on Monday pronounced varying jail terms, ranging from 5 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) to life imprisonment, against the three accused, the officials said. The terror convicts have also been fined a sum of up to Rs 20,000, they said.

Three other accused, namely Shakeel, Mohd Mustaqeem and Mohammad Moid (all residents of Lucknow), were convicted earlier in this case after they had pleaded guilty under the Arms Act.

NIA had filed charges against all six convicted accused in the case through two chargesheets in 2022.

The case was originally registered by the Uttar Pradesh police following the arrest of Mushirudeen and Minhaj, both members of the banned Al-Qaeda terrorist organisation, by its Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in July 2021.

The duo was found involved in radicalisation and recruitment of vulnerable youth for raising Ansaar Gajwatul Hind (AGH) as a module of AQIS (Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent) in Lucknow, a statement issued by the probe agency said.

The conspiracy was aimed at carrying out terrorist acts in various cities of UP, including the capital, ahead of the Independence Day celebrations in 2021, it said.

NIA, after taking over the case, found that Minhaj was radicalised by Tawheed and another accused, Adil Nabi Teli alias Musa.

Together, these three men had conspired to recruit members for the banned AGH for committing terrorist acts, the statement said.

Investigations by the anti-terror agency further revealed that Museeruddin was also roped into the conspiracy by Minhaj, and had even taken ‘Baiyat’ (oath of allegiance) at the latter’s behest, it said.

Subsequently, Museeruddin and Minhaj had procured arms, ammunition and explosive materials with the help of Shakeel, Mustaqeem and Moid as part of the terror conspiracy intended to wage war against the Government of India, the NIA said.

During the course of the investigation, Musa was found to be a declared terrorist affiliated with TRF, an extended outfit of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror organisation, it said.

Investigations revealed that Musa had received funds from Minhaj through Tawheed.

Musa was killed in an encounter with security forces in March 2022 and NIA had filed an abated chargesheet against him in August 2022, the statement said.