Man gets 10-yr RI in Pak-linked LeT recruitment case
Probe revealed accused were radicalising youth through social media to undertake Jihad against Indian Govt
A special NIA court on Wednesday sentenced a key accused to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) in a Pakistan-linked case relating to the recruitment and radicalisation of Muslim youth for the banned terror organisation, Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT), in West Bengal.
Sayyad M Idris of Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka has been convicted and sentenced concurrently under various sections of the IPC and to UAPA, with the maximum sentence of 10 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI), according to the orders of the NIA special court at Kolkata. He has also been fined Rs 70,000.
The NIA, which took over the case from the West Bengal Police in April 2020, had arrested Idris, along with Altaf Ahmed Rather of J&K, during the course of its investigation.
Investigation revealed that the two men had conspired with one Tania Parveen to form an LeT module by recruiting local people. Tania was arrested earlier by the STF, West Bengal Police, during a search at Baduria, North 24 Parganas, in March 2020, on the basis of a tip-off. The STF team had seized various incriminating materials like Jihadi text books during the search operation.
It was further found during investigation that the youth were being radicalised through social media to undertake Jihad against the Government of India.
Subsequently, in September 2020 and May 2021, the NIA had chargesheeted the three arrested accused and the two Pakistan-based absconders, identified as Ayesha, alias Ayesha Burhan, Ayesha Siddiqi and Syed Ayesha; and Bilal, alias Bilal Durani.
Later, Red and Blue corner notices were respectively issued against them, while the trial is continuing against the two other arrested accused in the case.
