Terror suspects in Andhra grilled by NIA, ATS over IED plot, foreign funding, extremist links
Siraj Ur Rehaman (29) and Syed Sameer (28) were taken into seven-day police custody on Friday after being transferred from Visakhapatnam Central Prison to the Police Training College (PTC) in Vizianagaram.
Their interrogation was approved by the Additional Judicial First-Class Magistrate Court, Vizianagaram, to gather key details about their reported involvement in planning terror acts and building explosive devices.
Police said DSP-ranked officers began separate interrogations of the duo at the PTC. Security around the facility was intensified, with in-charge SP SV Madhava Reddy and Additional SP Sowmyalatha overseeing the arrangements.
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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Eight terror suspects to plead guilty in Bengaluru prison plot case
Bengaluru: Eight defendants in the Bengaluru prison terror conspiracy case, including T Naseer with alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) links, have expressed their intention to plead guilty before a special court hearing National Investigation Agency (NIA) cases. The accused, currently in judicial custody at Bengaluru Central Prison, were arrested in 2023 for allegedly radicalising fellow inmates and promoting terror-related activities while in jail between 2017 and 2023. Prime suspect T Naseer, who was an undertrial in connection with the 2008 Bengaluru serial blast case, led the alleged terror activities, police said. The case is currently being probed by NIA. You Can Also Check: Bengaluru AQI | Weather in Bengaluru | Bank Holidays in Bengaluru | Public Holidays in Bengaluru Other suspects who filed the applications are Syed Suhail, 24, Mohammed Umar, 30, Zahid Tabrez, 27, Syed Mudassir Pasha, 29, Mohammed Faisal, 29, Salman Khan, 29, and Chota Usman alias Vikram Kumar, 28. "All the eight suspects will be produced before the special court Wednesday. That day, the court will ask if they want to plead guilty," sources said. Prison psychiatrist in judicial custody Prison psychiatrist Dr Nagaraj, assistant sub-inspector of police (City Armed Reserve) Chand Pasha and Anees Fathima, mother of radicalisation case accused Junaid Ahmed, who is absconding, were produced before the special court Monday. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Experience the thrill on every turn with the new SP125 Honda Learn More Undo They were remanded in judicial custody. Last week, NIA arrested the three for allegedly aiding Naseer and others in different capacities. While Nagaraj is accused of supplying mobile phones and sim cards to Naseer and others, Pasha is charged with providing police security to Naseer and others in prison while the latter carried out terror activities. The third accused, Fathima, was arrested for allegedly providing monetary help and other assistance to the inmates. "Fathima was rushed to hospital Sunday after claiming to have consumed toilet cleaner. Doctors washed her stomach and found no traces of the cleaner. However, there were some traces of the toilet cleaner in her mouth," sources said.
The Hindu
5 hours ago
- The Hindu
Prison radicalisation case: Eight, including prime accused, plead guilty
Eight accused involved in the Bengaluru prison radicalisation, including the prime accused, moved an application before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Bengaluru pleading guilty. The prime accused accused Thadiyantavida Naseer, 47, 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 eight are among 12 people currently accused in the prison conspiracy case registered in 2023, which is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). They moved the application last week under Section 229 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). The application allows the court to expedite the trial by convicting the accused based on their plea without a full trial. However, the NIA is preparing to submit its version on the application. The accused in their application told the court that it was voluntary and without any coercion, and sought to reduce the quantum of sentence . 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 radicalisation happened inside the Bengaluru prison. The NIA has accused Naseer of radicalising the youths lodged at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru. Naseer is an undertrial in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blasts case and was convicted in a terrorism case in Kerala and linked the LeT. Last year, the NIA chargesheeted eight people, including T. Naseer and accused no: 52, Junaid Ahmed who is presently on the run, under various sections of IPC, UA(P) Act, 1967; Arms Act, 1959 and Explosive Substances Act, 1884. The NIA court on Monday remanded three people arrested on July 8 in the same case to judicial custody. They were earlier under NIA custody for six days. The three arrested are Anees Fathima, the mother of absconding accused Junaid Ahmed, prison psychiatrist Dr. Nagaraj S., and Chan Pasha, an ASI posted at the City Armed Reserve (CAR), North Bengaluru.
Indian Express
13 hours ago
- Indian Express
7 accused in Bengaluru prison terror conspiracy case, including LeT-linked T Naseer, seek to plead guilty
Seven accused in the 2023 Bengaluru Central Prison terror conspiracy case, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba-linked prime accused Thadiyantavide Naseer, 47, last week moved a court pleading guilty. The special court for terrorism cases in Bengaluru took on record the application filed by the seven accused to plead guilty in the case. The court noted the statement of the accused that the application was being filed 'voluntarily without any coercion or any influence from anyone'. Besides Naseer, the other six accused who pleaded guilty are Syed Suhail, 24; Mohammed Umar, 30; Zahid Tabrez, 27; Syed Mudassir Pasha, 29; Mohammed Faisal, 29; and Salman Khan, 29. The seven are among 12 people currently accused in the prison conspiracy case registered in 2023, which is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). They moved the application last week under Section 229 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The application allows the court to expedite the trial by convicting the accused based on their plea without a full trial. The seven are accused of being involved in a terrorism plot where the LeT-linked Naseer, who is an undertrial prisoner in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blasts case and a convict in a Kerala terrorism case, allegedly radicalised youths lodged in the prison in the 2017 to 2023 period to take up 'jihad' when they are released from prison. On July 8, a day after the seven accused moved the application to plead guilty, the NIA arrested three more people in the case: Anees Fathima, the mother of the absconding accused Junaid Ahmed; Dr Nagaraj S, a psychiatrist employed at the Bengaluru Central Prison; and Chan Pasha, an Assistant Sub-Inspector with the City Armed Reserve (CAR) in North Bengaluru. Fathima is accused of playing a role in facilitating financial transactions between various accused in the conspiracy case. ASI Pasha is accused of providing police escort details of Naseer to other accused on payment of bribes, and the psychiatrist Dr Nagaraj is accused of smuggling mobile phones to Naseer inside the prison facility. The NIA filed an initial chargesheet in the prison terrorism case in February 2024 against six people and later charges were framed against eight arrested accused in May 2025, after one suspect, Salman Khan, was extradited from Rwanda in November 2024, and another suspect, Vikram Kumar alias Chota Usman, who was arrested by the Delhi Special Cell in March 2021, was linked to the case. The NIA took over the investigation of the case in October 2023 after the Bengaluru police conducted the initial investigations. The probe agencies alleged that the accused procured arms, ammunition and digital devices for terrorist activities after they were radicalised in prison by Naseer. 'Naseer had orchestrated the radicalisation and subsequent criminal activities, including plans to facilitate his own escape en route to the court from the prison and a conspiracy to further the operations of the proscribed terrorist organisation LeT,' the NIA said last year. Naseer was arrested in 2009 by the Bengaluru police for the 2008 serial blasts in the city, which killed one person. He is among 18 members of the banned Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) who were sentenced to seven years in 2018 by an NIA court in Kerala for being part of a terror training camp at Vagamon in Kerala in 2007. On July 18, 2023, shortly after receiving information from a central agency, the Bengaluru Central Crime Branch (CCB) police arrested five youths with a history of crime for alleged possession of seven country-made pistols, 45 live bullets, and for allegedly planning some form of terror attack in the future after being influenced by Naseer. Investigations of the communication and electronic devices seized from the accused revealed the transfer of funds from foreign shores to members of the arrested group in Bengaluru, said the police. The initial Bengaluru probe indicated that Naseer, who had been in prison for over 13 years, radicalised a few members of a group of 20 youths who were lodged in the Bengaluru Central Prison between 2017 and 2019 for the murder of a businessman in Bengaluru in October 2017. The police alleged that Naseer inspired Junaid Ahmed, 29, one of the 20 youths who were arrested in 2017 in the businessman murder case, to take up the cause of his religion and facilitated the creation of a terror module. Junaid Ahmed left the country for Dubai around 2021 and has not been traced yet. Several people who are accused in terror cases in Karnataka and lodged in prisons for prolonged periods before a trial have resorted to the strategy of pleading guilty to secure an early conviction and release from prison in the event of their having been in prison for periods that are close to the maximum imprisonment for offences. In a 2012 terror conspiracy case in which 13 Karnataka youths were arrested, the accused pleaded guilty during the trial process by moving an application under Section 229 of the CrPC. On September 15, 2016, a special court convicted the 13 of all the charges against them and sentenced them to five years in prison on the basis of the guilty plea. They were released in 2017 on completion of five years in prison.
