Bengaluru prison radicalisation case: NIA chargesheets three more accused

Bengaluru: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday said that it has chargesheeted three more accused in connection with the 2023 Bengaluru prison radicalization case linked to the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit.

The Central agency filed the secondary supplementary chargesheet on Thursday.

The agency has now named Anees Fathima, Chan Pasha A and Dr Nagaraj S and charged them under various sections of IPC, UA(P) Act, Explosive Substances Act, Prevention of Corruption Act, and the Karnataka Prisons Act.

NIA, which took over the case from the local police in October 2023, had earlier chargesheeted nine accused, including absconder Junaid Ahmed.

"Among the three chargesheeted, Anees Fathima has been identified as Ahmed's mother. She had provided logistical support and funds to T Naseer inside Parappana Agrahara, Central Prisons, Bengaluru. She was also involved in handling of hand grenades and walkie-talkies on her son’s directives, and had facilitated communications between the various accused. NIA investigations further revealed her key role in harbouring a key accused Salman Khan, and helping him abscond to Dubai by arranging his travel documents. Salman was subsequently extradited to India from The Republic of Rwanda," the agency said.

The probe revealed that Chan Pasha A, an Assistant Sub Inspector at the City Armed Reserve-South, Bengaluru City, received illegal gratification from Salman for sharing information about the escort details of T Naseer with whom he had connections while he was on prisoners escort duty.

"Dr Nagaraj S, a psychiatrist on deputation at Central Prisons Hospital, Parappana Agrahara, was involved in illegally smuggling mobile phones into the prison and selling them to the inmates for cash. One of these phones had reached T Naseer, who used it to communicate with his co-accused to conspire for promoting the terror plot," the agency said, adding that efforts were on to trace other absconding accused.

The case, originally registered by the Bengaluru City police in July 2023, related to the recovery of arms, ammunition and digital devices from habitual offenders who had planned to unleash terror in the city with the intent of disrupting India’s sovereignty and security.

The activities, aimed at promoting the LeT’s interests, were part of a larger conspiracy to facilitate the escape of T Naseer, a life convict in several terror cases, en-route from the prison to the court. Naseer was an under trial prisoner in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blast cases at the time.