Bengal court gives capital punishment to LeT militant

A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant was given a capital punishment by a district court in West Bengal on Saturday.

According to CID officials, the verdict was given in relation to a April 2007 case in which the accused Sk Abdul Nayeem along with three other LeT militants were apprehended by the BSF while trying to illegally enter the country through the Benapole/Petrapole checkpost near the India-Bangladesh border.

“The accused person Sk Abdul Nayeem had earlier escaped during the trial. He was later arrested and then the NIA was contacted by the CID, West Bengal, and it was learnt that the accused was lodged at Tihar jail and facing trial at an NIA Court in New Delhi. The CID brought him to Bangaon court in North 24 Paraganas district from time to time for trial,” said a senior CID official. Nayeem hails from Aurangabad in Maharastra.

Nayeem along with the other accused were charged under several sections of the IPC including 121 (waging war against the state), 468 (forgery), 470 (forging documents) and section 14 of the Foreigners Act (remaining in an area of India beyond the period for which visa was granted).

The three other accused in the case - Pakistani citizens Md. Yunus and Abdulla - and Jammu and Kashmir's Muzaffar were given capital punishments earlier, the CID official said.

According to CID sources, specific intelligence information indicated that a group of Pakistan-trained LeT militants were likely to enter India via the Benapole/Petropole checkpost area and BSF officials apprehended four such people on April 3, 2007.

“From their possession, fake Indian Voter ID cards, licenses, passports and visas, Indian currency and US dollars were seized. During the period of police custody, explosives were also seized from the possession of the accused,” the CID official said.