LeT activists sentenced to life

Fast Track Judge C V Revankar pronounced the sentence after having convicted them under section 235 (2) of the CrPC, sections 120 (B), 121 and 121 (A) of the IPC, sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act and sections 25 and 26 of the Arms Act.

The convicted are Mohammad Razur, 45, of Nalgonda (Andhra Pradesh); Afsar Pasha, 33, of Bangalore and a native of Chintamani; Ibrahim Sab Chopdar, 38, of Guledgudda (Bagalkot); Noorulla Khan, 33, of Chintamani; Mohammad Irfan, 32, Uttar Pradesh and Munna, 28, of Chintamani.

The court had acquitted accused number seven, Chand Pasha, 53, of Kadugondanahalli on Saturday.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, his lawyer Praveen C said: “My client was acquitted as the allegations made by the prosecution could not be proved.”

The prosecution had alleged that Chand Pasha funded the aforementioned activists in the procurement of literature that propagated violence against India.

“The (honourable) court, based on the statements of the official translator, found that the literature submitted by the prosecution did not have any anti-India sentiments,” Praveen said.

The seven were arrested when different teams investigating the 2005 shootout at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), killing M C Puri, a retired professor of IIT, Delhi, found evidence about their activities.

“They have nothing to do with the IISc case,” Special Public Prosecutor K K Seetharam had said.

The accused were being tried after V S D’Souza, the then Frazer Town ACP and special investigating officer, had filed a suo motu complaint against the accused in the Sadashivanagar police station in 2006. D’Souza is now DCP (Intelligence).

The complainant had alleged that the accused had waged war against the country and also were recruiting youngsters to LeT. The prosecution had submitted several firearms and other materials as evidence gathered after the places of the accused were raided in 2006. Later, the police filed a 1,200-page charge sheet against the accused.

Arms recovered

The explosives and arms were recovered from Kadu Malleshwara area, Lakshmipura in Chikkaballapur district and Hesaraghatta among other areas. Also, the prosecution maintains that the case was able to hold water in the court because of the diary found at the house of accused number two, Afsar Pasha. The other evidences supplemented the diary findings. The diary apparently had the minutes of a meeting held in 2003 in Bangladesh, along with names of persons who attended it, describing the intent to create unrest in India through violence.

The police also claim that they recovered jihadi literature and other material authored by extremists such as Azhar Masood.

Further, a senior officer said Mohammed Razur was in Saudi Arabia before 2000. It is there that he met accused number two and three –– Afsar Pasha and Ibrahim Sab Chopdar –– who met the others in Chintamani and Kolar.

“Mohammed Razur, the self-styled South India Commander of LeT and others then started a trust in Chintamani to attract Muslims,” the official said.

The police said that the prime concern of this trust was to recruit the youth for ‘terrorist activities’ and that the group preached about jihad, how to pray and how to behave as a good Muslim.

The police allege that the group had reportedly decided to demolish the ‘dargahs,’ so that the Muslims thought the Hindus were targetting them.

DG&IGP Shankar Bidari has announced a Rs 1-lakh reward for the investigating team, comprising V S D’Souza, Prathap Singh, H Subbanna, H Siddappa, Abdul Khaiser, A N Swamy and Ramegowda.

The prosecution had about 102 witnesses, including former DG&IGP Ajai Kumar Singh and then home secretary-II Bipin Gopala Krishna.