BENGALURU: The Special Court for National Investigation Agency (NIA), Bengaluru on Friday convicted four members of the proscribed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to seven-year rigorous imprisonment and fine.
They have been convicted in four terror-related cases under Sections 120B, 395, 452, 397, 399, 458, 468 and 471 of IPC for criminal conspiracy, dacoity, house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restrain, housebreaking, forgery and fraudulently or dishonestly using as genuine any document or electronic record along with Sections 17, 18, 20 & 23 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967 and section 25 (1) of Arms Act.
The four — Kador Kazi alias Mijanur Rahaman, Mustafizur Rahman alias Tuhin from Birbhum District, West Bengal (WB), Adil Sheikh alias Asadullah and Abdul Karim alias Korim SK from Murshidabad district, WB — have been convicted. One of the cases was regarding the seizure of huge quantities of electrical and electronic items, tools, chemical apparatus, containers etc used for fabrication of bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from the hideout of JMB in Bengaluru.
The case was initially registered by the Karnataka police at Soladevanahalli police station, Bengaluru on July 7, 2019 and was later re-registered more than a month later by the NIA on July 29. The other four cases are related to dacoities committed by the accused in 2018 in KR Puram, Attibele and Kothanur police station limits. The cases were re-registered by the NIA on April 1, 2020. The Central anti-terrorism agency had submitted the charge sheet in all these cases. For trial, they were clubbed into one.
According to the NIA investigation, “The accused had raised funds by committing dacoities at various places in Bengaluru with the intention of furthering the activities of JMB in India.” It stated, “They had also collected explosive materials and test fired a rocket launcher for the commission of terror acts. The ‘proceeds of dacoity’ in the form of gold was sold by the accused for raising funds for carrying out terror activities. The 11 accused have been arrested and charge-sheeted so far and three accused have been convicted in the case earlier.”