New Delhi: A special court in Lucknow convicted eight men of conspiring and planning terrorist acts to wage war against the Indian government, according to the National Investigation Agency's chargesheet, reported news agency ANI. In 2017, the men were arrested in the Kanpur conspiracy case for violating various IPC, UA(P), Arms Act, and Explosive Substances Act provisions. The NIA court will determine the severity of the punishment on Monday.
The accused had previously been found to have prepared and tested a number of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and attempted to plant them in various Uttar Pradesh locations without success, according to NIA investigations.
The eight accused were initially charged on March 8, 2017, at Lucknow's Police Station Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) re-registered the case on March 14.
The NIA court will determine the severity of the punishment on Monday, according to ANI.
Handwritten notes about potential targets and details about bomb-making were discovered in a notebook taken from their Haji Colony (Lucknow) hideout. Investigations had additionally prompted the disclosure of a few photos of the blamed making IEDs and even with weapons, ammo and ISIS banner, reported ANI quoting the probe agency.
The group reportedly gathered illegal weapons, explosives, and other items from a variety of locations. Atif Muzaffar, one of the accused, had also said that he had gathered materials from a variety of internet sources to compile information on how to make IEDs.
The IED that was planted in the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train was also made by Atif and three other people, who were identified as Md Danish, Syed Meer Hasan, and Md Saifulla. Ten people were injured in the train explosion on March 7, 2017. The NIA also looked into this case, which is currently being tried.
Md Faisal, a Kanpur Nagar resident, was arrested for his involvement in March 7, 2017, Madhya Pradesh train explosion, marking a turning point in the ISIS-backed criminal conspiracy case.
Two of his associates, Gauss Mohammad Khan alias Karan Khatri and Azhar Khan alias Azhar Khalifa, were arrested on March 9 as a result of his disclosures. Five additional accused in the case were detained by the NIA after it took over the investigations. They were identified as Mohammad Danish, Atif Muzaffar, Asif Iqbal alias Rocky, Mohammad Atif alias Atif Iraqi, and Sayed Meer Hussain, all of whom were from the district Kannouj in Uttar Pradesh.
On August 31, 2017, the NIA issued a charge sheet against each of the eight individuals who had been arrested. The spokesperson for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) stated that the case's investigations had clearly demonstrated that the accused were members of ISIS and had pledged "bayat" (allegiance) to the Islamic State and its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.