NEW DELHI: Two persons on Wednesday pleaded guilty before a Delhi court in a case of criminal conspiracy by the ISIS to establish its base in India by recruiting Muslim youths through different social media platforms in order to carry out acts of terrorism in the country.
Accused Abu Anas and Najmul Huda made the submission before the court, which was scheduled to hear arguments on the quantum of punishment for six other accused who had earlier pleaded guilty in the case, their advocate Qausar Khan said.
Special Judge Parveen Singh, meanwhile, deferred for August 24 the hearing on the quantum of sentence for the accused — Mudabbir Mushtaq Sheikh, Mohammad Shareef Moinudeen Khan, Asif Ali, Mohammad Hussain Khan, Syed Mujahid and Mohammad Azhar Khan — who had pleaded guilty.
While pleading guilty, the accused told the court that they were ‘remorseful for the acts alleged against them’, and undertook not to indulge in similar acts and activities in future.
They said they wanted to return to mainstream society and rehabilitate themselves. ‘The accused are having clean antecedents, even their conduct in jail are satisfactory... the accused are pleading guilty voluntarily without any pressure, threat, or coercion,’ their plea said.
The case, registered by the National Investigation Agency on December 9, 2015 under relevant sections of the IPC and the UA(P) Act, pertains to the conspiracy hatched by the ISIS to establish its base in India.