Seven ISIS-linked terrorists awarded death sentence in 2017 UP train blast case

A special NIA court in Lucknow has sentenced to death seven ISISlinked terrorists while awarding life imprisonment to an associate of theirs in a 2017 case related to various terror activities including a bomb blast inside a train in Uttar Pradesh an official said on WednesdayIn Gujarat another NIA special court awarded 10 years rigorous imprisonment to two brothers who were found involved in radicalising and recruiting people to carry out terror acts in the country in the name of global terror group Islamic State or ISIS the official saidThe National Investigation Agency NIA termed the judgments as another milestone in its tradition of evidencebased investigation and said both cases relate to the online radicalisation of the accused in the name of ISIS their motivation to commit violent jihad and cause terror attacks in the countryThe official said with the pronouncing of the two sentences the conviction rate of NIA cases stands at 9369 per centMohammad Faisal Gauss Mohammad Khan Mohammad Azhar Atif Muzaffar Mohammad Danish Sayed Meer Hussain and Asif Iqbal alias Rocky were awarded death penalty by the Lucknow court during pronouncing of judgement on Tuesday while Mohammad atif alias Atif Iraqi was sentenced to life imprisonment a spokesperson of the federal agency saidThe official said the eight accused from Uttar Pradesh along with slain terrorist Mohammad Saifullah had set up a hideout in the Haji Colony area of Lucknow and had prepared and tested some improvised explosive devices IEDsThey had tried to plant them at various locations in Uttar Pradesh the spokesperson said adding that investigations have led to the discovery of several photographs of the accused making IEDs with weapons and ammunition and the ISIS flagAlso Read Umesh Pal murder UP authorities bulldoze house of close aid of Atiq AhmedThe group had reportedly collected illegal weapons and explosives from various places Atif and three others Danish Hussain and Saifulla had been responsible for fabricating the IED that was planted in the BhopalUjjain passenger train that left 10 persons injured on March 7 2017 the spokesperson saidThe NIA said the accused had come together to propagate the ISISs ideology and promote its activities in IndiaIn pursuit of this objective Faisal Khan Muzaffar Danish and Saifulla had explored land routes They had visited several key cities across the country including Kolkata Sundarbans Srinagar Amritsar Wagha Border Badmer Jaisalmer Mumbai and Kozhikode for undertaking hijrah migration the spokespersonKhan and Muzaffar had in fact explored a route to cross over to Bangladesh via Sundarbans as per investigations Faisal Atif and Saifulla had also travelled to Kashmir in March 2016 in a bid to contact some terrorist groups that could help them to cross over to Pakistan from where they could migrate to ISIS controlled territories in Syria the official saidSaifulla was killed in an encounter with police during a raid on the hideout in Haji Colony on March 7 2017 the spokesperson said adding that the case was initially registered on March 8 2017 at the Anti Terrorist Squad ATS police station Lucknow and reregistered by the NIA six days laterAfter investigations a charge sheet was filed against the eight on August 31 2017 Post the trial the accused persons were convicted on February 24In another case the Gujarat NIA special court has sentenced two ISIS terrorists to 10 years rigorous imprisonment for their involvement in activities to radicalise and recruit people to carry out terror acts in IndiaBoth the accused Vaseem Arif Ramodia alias Ninja Fox and Naeem Arif Ramodia alias ND are brothers and residents of Rajkot in Gujarat the spokesperson saidThe official said investigations have revealed that they used online chats and messages to advocate and spread the ideology of the terror groupThey arranged participated and assisted in organising online discussions and meetings among active ISIS operatives to plan and execute acts of violence They had tried to commit arson by burning vehicles and shops belonging to nonMuslims the spokesperson saidThe NIA said they have unsuccessfully tried to make an IED as wellOn the directions of their online ISIS handlers both the accused were preparing to carry out a lonewolf attack at Chotila Temple They had already undertaken a reconnaissance of the area but were apprehended before they could carry out the attack the official saidThe official said the case was initially registered at the ATS police station in Ahmedabad and reregistered by the NIA on May 25 2017The chargesheet was filed against them on August 22 2017 and after the trial was completed the judgment convicting them was pronounced on Tuesday the spokesperson saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete 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