New Delhi, 22 April

Seven accused, including mastermind and Lashkar-e-Taiba member T Naseer, have been sentenced to seven-year rigorous imprisonment by a special National Investigation Agency court in the 2023 Bengaluru prisons radicalisation case, an official statement said on Wednesday.

Apart from Naseer, the court has sentenced accused Syed Suhail Khan, Mohammed Umar, Zahid Tabrez, Syed Mudassir Pasha, Mohammed Faisal Rabbani and Salman Khan and imposed a fine of Rs 48,000, it said.

The accused had earlier pleaded guilty to the charges filed by the NIA in the case relating to a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) linked terror conspiracy hatched inside the Parapanna Agrahara Central Prisons, Bengaluru, allegedly by Naseer.

The conspiracy involved the identification, recruitment, training, conversion and radicalisation of gullible youth lodged in prison to execute terror activities in India.

The case was initially registered by the Bengaluru Central Crime Branch (CCB) in July 2023 following the seizure of arms, ammunition and digital devices from habitual offenders. The offenders had planned to carry out terror strikes in the City to further the violent anti-India agenda of the proscribed LeT terror outfit, the statement said.

The case was taken over by NIA, which unveiled a larger conspiracy to facilitate the escape of Naseer, who was an under-trial prisoner in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blast cases at the time.

The NIA had chargesheeted 11 arrested accused and an absconder, Junaid Ahmed.

Of these, accused Salman Khan was arrested after he was successfully extradited from Rwanda. Efforts are on to track and arrest Junaid Ahmed, the statement added.