Bengaluru court sentences LeT operative to 7 years’ RI

Bengaluru: A special court that deals with cases involving the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has convicted and sentenced a man in the prison radicalisation case linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist organisation.

The court ordered seven years’ rigorous imprisonment to Vikram alias Chota Usman (accused 9 in the case).

The prosecution argued that Vikram had come into contact with the other accused Junaid Ahmed through Usman Shariff in a murder case in 2017.

He was radicalised, converted to Islam and recruited to the terror module by Tadiyandavida Naseer alias T Naseer, the prime accused in the case, at the Central Prison in Bengaluru.

LeTAfter his release from the prison, Vikram was in regular contact with T Naseer and other co-accused on encrypted communication platforms. He was handed funds by another co-accused Junaid Ahmed and in May 2023, as instructed by Junaid, Vikram visited Ambala in Haryana and collected a dead drop parcel, containing hand grenades and walkie-talkies and brought it to Bengaluru.

He had stayed in the house of Syed Suhail Khan (accused number 3) and handed over the hand grenades and walkie-talkies to Abdul Basheer, father of Junaid Ahmed and Zahid Tabrez. The hand grenades were meant to be used as part of the larger conspiracy to release T Naseer enroute to the court and for further activities of LeT.

On April 21, the special court sentenced T Naseer, Syed Suhail Khan, Mohammed Umar, Zahid Tabrez, Syed Mudassir Pasha alias Mudassir, Mohammed Faisal Rabbani and Salman Khan to 7-year RI in this case. 

T Naseer, a life convict in the LeT recruitment case and an under-trial prisoner in Bengaluru serial blasts case, used to select gullible under-trial prisoners and would get them transferred to his barracks in the prison. He would radicalize, convert, and recruit them for terror activities of the LeT.