Bengaluru, 1 Feb

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in the City has sentenced an Islamic State sympathiser to 10 years in prison on charges of terrorism and waging war against an Asiatic ally by a special court in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

The accused Mehdi Masroor Biswas who was an Islamic State sympathiser and a native of West Bengal who was living in the City. 

He was picked up by a special team of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the City police from his apartment in Gangondanahalli.

The accused was allegedly operating the `highly influential’ Shami Witness X account from here in the city and was corresponding with his handlers in the Islamic State. He told interrogators that he wanted to join ISIL but had responsibilities here and could not go.

Biswas allegedly spent long periods every day tweeting IS propaganda messages, posting near real-time updates on the progress made by IS fighters in Iraq and Syria by tracking news sites, cheering IS victories and hailing slain IS fighters as martyrs.

According to the special court order, Biswas was “sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of ten years and liable to pay a fine of Rs 50,000 for the offence punishable under Section 18B of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967,” for recruiting people for terrorist acts. In default of payment of the fine, he will undergo simple imprisonment for one year.

Similarly, Biswas has been sentenced to 10 years in jail with a fine of Rs 50,000 on charges of supporting a terrorist organisation (section 39 of the UAPA) and for waging war against an Asiatic ally of India (section 125 of the Indian Penal Code).

He has been sentenced to seven years in prison with a fine of Rs 25,000 for taking part in unlawful activities (section 13 of the UAPA) and three years in prison with a fine of Rs 10,000 under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity between communities) and 505 (1) and (2) for public mischief.

The “substantial sentences in respect of all the above offences shall run concurrently” and “the period of detention undergone by the accused in judicial custody shall be set off against the term of imprisonment imposed on him as provided under section 428 of CrPC”, the court ruled. The fine recovered from Biswas will be used to cover the expenses incurred by the prosecution. Salar News