NIA court convicts Lucknow man for involvement in terror conspiracy hatched by Al-Qaeda

Lucknow: A special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) here sentenced a man to imprisonment on Thursday in a case related to a terror conspiracy hatched by the Al-Qaeda, a proscribed terrorist organisation based at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, according to an official statement.

The court sentenced Mohammad Moid of Lucknow to the period already spent by him in prison, that is, one year, nine months and 13 days, and slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 on him.

The sentence was pronounced by the court after the accused pleaded guilty.

The trial against the remaining five chargesheeted accused is continuing in the case, relating to the arrest of two Al-Qaeda members in July 2021 by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

The arrests took place on the basis of information shared by Al-Qaeda member Umar Halmandi, who had himself identified and recruited some people in Lucknow for raising the Al-Qaeda module in the region, said the statement issued by the probe agency.

He had further informed police about Al-Qaeda affiliate Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH) -- an outfit raised to carry out a series of terror acts before August 15, 2021 in various Uttar Pradesh cities, especially Lucknow -- the statement said.

The NIA, which took over the case from the ATS, chargesheeted five accused on January 5, 2022, and subsequently, filed a supplementary chargesheet against one more in August of the same year.

The NIA investigations had revealed that Moid, along with two other accused, Shakeel and Mohammad Mustaqeem, had aided and abetted accused Minhaj and Museeruddin in procuring weapons and ammunition to promote the terror conspiracy of the AGH.

Minjah was radicalised by accused Tawheed and Adil Nabi alias Musa, and had in turn conspired with Museeruddin, who even took a "baiyat" (pledge of loyalty) to promote the terror conspiracy, the NIA said.

Minjah and Museeruddin had procured arms, ammunition and explosive material with an intention to wage war against the government of India, according to the NIA investigations in the case.