BENGALURU: A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Wednesday sentenced a key accused, Sayyad M Idris of Uttara Kannada district, to 10 years rigorous imprisonment (RI) in a Pakistan-linked case related to the recruitment and radicalisation of Muslim youth for the banned terror organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in West Bengal.
Idris was convicted and sentenced concurrently under various sections of IPC and under UA(P) Act. He accused was also fined a sum of Rs 70,000. The NIA, which took over the case from West Bengal police in April 2020, had arrested Idris and Altaf Ahmed Rather of J&K, during the investigation.
“Investigations revealed the two men had conspired with one Tania Parveen to form an LeT module by recruiting local people. Parveen was arrested earlier by STF, WB police, during a search at Baduria, North 24 Parganas, in March 2020, on the basis of specific information.
It was further found that youth were being radicalised through social media to undertake Jihad against the Government of India,” the NIA said on Thursday.
Subsequently, in September 2020 and May 2021, NIA had charge-sheeted the three arrested accused and two Pakistan-based absconders.
Red and Blue corner notices have been issued against these two absconders, while trial is continuing against the two other arrested accused in the case.