BENGALURU: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on January 1 chargesheeted three more accused in the 2023 Bengaluru prison radicalisation case linked with the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror organisation.
In its second supplementary chargesheet, the agency has named then prison psychiatrist on deputation Dr Nagaraj S; mother of accused absconder Junaid Ahmed, Anees Fathima, and then assistant sub-inspector (ASI), City Armed Reserve (CAR) - South, Bengaluru City, Chand Pasha A under various sections of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code (IPC), Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Explosive Substances Act, Prevention of Corruption Act, and Karnataka Prisons Act.
The NIA, which took over the case from local police in October 2023, had earlier chargesheeted nine accused, including absconder Junaid. The case, originally registered by Bengaluru City Police in July 2023, related to the recovery of arms, ammunition and digital devices from habitual offenders who had “planned to unleash terror in the city with the intent of disrupting India’s sovereignty and security. The activities, aimed at promoting LeT’s interests, were part of a larger conspiracy to facilitate the escape of T Naseer, a life convict in several terror cases, en-route from the prison to court”, NIA stated in an official release on Friday.
Naseer was an undertrial prisoner in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blast case at the time. Among the three chargesheeted on Thursday, “Fathima had provided logistics and funds to Naseer inside Bengaluru Central Prison, Parappana Agrahara. She was also involved in handling of hand grenades and walkie-talkies on her son’s directives, and had facilitated communication between the various accused,” agency said.
NIA investigation further revealed her role in harbouring a key accused, Salman Khan, and helping him abscond to Dubai by arranging his travel documents. Salman was subsequently extradited to India from the Republic of Rwanda.
“ASI Pasha received illegal gratification from Salman for sharing information about the escort details of Naseer with whom he had connections while he was on prisoners’ escort duty. Dr Nagaraj, who was then on deputation at Central Prisons Hospital, was involved in illegally smuggling mobile phones into the prison and selling them to the inmates for cash. One of these phones had reached Naseer, who used it to communicate with his co-accused to conspire to promote the terror plot,” added the central anti terrorism agency.