Bengaluru prison radicalisation case | Eight accused approach NIA special court to plead guilty

Bengaluru: Eight accused arrested in the Bengaluru prison radicalisation case have approached an NIA special court pleading guilty to the charges. 

Thadiyantavida Naseer, 47, the prime accused, moved an application in the court on July 7, along with seven co-accused — Syed Suhail Khan alias Suhail, 24; Mohammed Umar alias Umar 30; Zahid Tabrez alias Zahid, 27; Syed Mudassir Pasha, 29; Mohammed Faisal Rabbani alias Sadath, 29, Salman Khan, 29, and Vikram Kumar alias Chhota Usman. 

The application was moved under Section 229 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which states that if the accused pleads guilty, the judge shall record the plea and may, in his discretion, convict them. It wasn't immediately clear if the accused persons had reached any plea bargain with the NIA. 

The accused told the court that their decision to plead guilty was "voluntary and without coercion", NIA sources told DH, adding that the court had taken the submission on record. 

The court has sought the NIA's response and the agency is likely to seek lighter sentence, the sources added.

In 2023, the NIA took over the case, which was initially investigated by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Bengaluru police. 

In July 2023, the CCB raided a house in Kodigehalli and recovered seven country-made pistols, 45 live rounds of ammunition, walkie-talkies and some documents. Further investigations led the police to believe that inmates lodged at the Bengaluru Central Prison had been "radicalised".  

The NIA accused Naseer, already serving a life sentence in another terrorism-related case, of radicalising eight fellow prisoners. Naseer is also on trial in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blasts case. 

The NIA has charged nine accused in the case, including the eight who have pleaded guilty, Junaid Ahmed, who is absconding.  

The NIA invoked various IPC sections, the UAPA, the Arms Act, and the Explosive Substances Act. 

Meanwhile, the NIA court on Monday remanded three people arrested on July 8 in the same case to judicial custody. They were under in NIA custody for six days. 

The three arrested are Anees Fathima, the mother of Junaid Ahmed, prison psychiatrist Dr Nagaraj S, and Chan Pasha, an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) posted at the City Armed Reserve (CAR), North Bengaluru. 

Special Public Prosecutor P Prasanna Kumar told the court that Dr Nagaraj had smuggled phones into the prison to aid Lashkar-e-Taiba activities, while the ASI leaked escort details of Naseer to other accused for bribes. Fathima "facilitated" monetary transactions, he said.