BENGALURU : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday charge-sheeted eight persons in the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) prison radicalisation and ‘fidayeen’ (suicide) attack conspiracy case. Investigations revealed that the accused had plotted to carry out a ‘fidayeen’ attack and help T Naseer, a LeT operative serving a life sentence at Bengaluru Central Prison, escape from police custody on the way to court.
The chargesheet is filed against T Naseer of Kannur, Kerala, who was involved in several blast cases and is serving a life sentence in the central prison since 2013, Junaid Ahmed alias JD and Salman Khan, both suspected to have fled abroad, Syed Suhail Khan alias Suhail, Mohammed Umar alias Umar, Zahid Tabrez alias Zahid, Syed Mudassir Pasha and Mohammed Faisal Rabbani alias Sadath, who were arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) in Bengaluru last July.
“The case was originally registered by the Bengaluru City Police on July 18, 2023, following the seizure of arms, ammunition, hand grenades and walkie-talkies from the possession of seven of the accused persons. The recovery was made while the seven men were gathered in the house of one of the accused. Investigations into the case, which was taken over by NIA in October 2023, revealed that T Naseer had come in contact with the other accused while they were all lodged in Bengaluru Prison during 2017. While Salman was in Prison then in a POCSO case, the others were involved in a murder case,” an official release from the central investigation agency stated.
Naseer had allegedly managed to get them all shifted to his barracks after a careful assessment of their potential with a view to radicalise and recruit them into the LeT. He first managed to radicalise and recruit Junaid and Salman to further the activities of the LeT; thereafter, he conspired with Junaid to radicalise and recruit the other accused. Junaid, following his release from Prison, was believed to have fled abroad after committing some more offences.
“As per NIA investigations, he (Junaid) began sending funds to his co-accused from abroad to promote LeT activities within and outside the prison. He also conspired with Salman to deliver arms, ammunition, hand grenades and walkie-talkies to the others, as part of a plot to carry out a ‘fidayeen’ attack and help
Naseer escape from Police custody en route to court. Junaid also instructed his co-accused to steal used police caps for the attack and to commit arson on government buses as a practice run.
The plot was foiled with the seizure of the arms etc in July last year,” the release added. All eight accused persons have been charge-sheeted under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Explosives Substances Act and Arms Act, the NIA added.