KOLKATA: Ten years after being caught while trying to sneak into India from Bangladesh for a planned terrorist attack on a military base in Jammu and Kashmir, three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives – two Pakistani nationals and one Jammu and Kashmir resident -- were awarded the noose by Barasat subdivisional court on Saturday.
The Pakistan nationals Abdullah and Mohammad Younus -- residents of Karachi and Haripur respectively -- and Muzaffar Ahmed Rather of Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir were found guilty under Section 121 (waging war against the Government of India) of Indian Penal Code and were awarded death sentence by Judge Vinay Kumar Pathak of Fast Track Court-1 of Barasat subdivisional court. The accused have also been found guilty under Sections 121 A (conspiracy to commit offences punishable by Section 121), 122 (collecting arms with intention of waging war against the Government of India) and 120 B (Party to a criminal conspiracy to commit a crime punishable by death) of IPC.
Along with the three Lashkar operatives awarded the noose, one more operative Sheikh Abdul Naeem alias Sameer, an engineer from Maharashtra and a prime accused in Mumbai trains blasts that claimed 209 lives in 2006, was also nabbed by the Border Security Force (BSF) while trying to sneak into India through Petrapol border on April 4, 2007. However, Sameer, also a mastermind in the planned military camp terror attack, slipped from a train in Chhattisgarh while he was being taken to Mumbai for investigation in 2014. He is still at large.
Public prosecutor Sameer Das told the media that the four operatives were trained in Pakistan by LeT on operating automatic rifles and lob grenades, and on manufacturing powerful bombs. The operatives had secured a tourist visa for Bangladesh and had planned a prolonged stay at a safehouse in Kolkata before proceeding with their plan in Kashmir and then sneaking back into Pakistan. For their plan to stay in Kolkata, the accused, with the help of mastermind Sameer, had procured Indian voter cards, driving licences and bank pass books using Kolkata-based address proofs.
According to sources, nitroglycerin, used for making bombs was recovered from their safehouse in Kolkata. Polygraph test, narco-analysis and brain mapping of the accused were also conducted. Accused Pakistani national Abdullah is an English and computer teacher. He is also an expert in Indian law.
On the other hand, defence attorney Subrata Basu told media that no such evidence has been found against the accused which may lead them to be found guilty under Section 121. Hence, a higher court will be appealed against the ruling.