NIA chargesheets nine for Bihar rail track blast plot

The chargesheet had been filed under various sections of The Railways Act, Explosive Substances Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Representational Image

New Delhi: The NIA on Monday filed a chargesheet against nine accused for their involvement in a conspiracy to carry out terrorist act by planting explosives on the railway tracks near Ghorasahan station in Bihar`s Motihari district in September 2016.

Umashankar Patel, Gajendra Sharma, Rakesh Kumar Yadav, Ranjay Sah, Mukesh Yadav, Motilal Paswan and Arun Ram -- all resident of East Champaran (Motihari), along with Brij Kishore Giri and Samsul Hoda -- both residents of Nepal -- have been charged in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) chargesheet.

The chargesheet had been filed under sections 150 of The Railways Act, Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act and sections 16, 17, 18, 18B and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, an NIA official said.

Of the chargesheeted accused, six are in judicial custody, Giri and Hoda were earlier arrested in a murder case in Nepal`s Bara district, while Ram was murdered on December 25, 2016.

In the chargesheet, the NIA has mentioned that Hoda, Mohammed Shafi, a resident of Pakistan, and Giri were the main conspirators in the Ghorasahan case.

"Hoda entered into a criminal conspiracy with Shafi and others to carry out a series of terrorist acts in India, for which he visited Pakistan in July 2016 along with Shafi.

"The conspiracy hatched was to carry out IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) explosions on railway tracks and bridges to blow up passenger trains in order to cause loss to public life, disrupt essential lines of communication and thereby cause threat to the security and integrity of India," the chargesheet said.

In furtherance of the conspiracy, the chargesheet said, Hoda associated Giri and transferred to him large funds to recruit other associates and arrange logistics for the terrorist acts.

The funds were sent from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for Giri in various bank accounts in Nepal and India, the chargesheet said, adding that Giri, in turn, recruited other accused persons to carry out the terror activities.

"The accused procured explosives and other material for the fabrication of IEDs. They fabricated and planted a pressure cooker IED on the railway tracks near Ghorasahan Railway Station in the night of September 30, 2016 in order to cause loss to public life and property and to disrupt the essential lines of communication.

"They later fabricated and planted another IED on the railway track near Adapur and Nakardei railway stations in Bihar in the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 2016," the chargesheet added.

An NIA official said that further investigation against Hoda, Giri and Shafi was going on.

After the Home Ministry`s January 25 and 26 orders, the NIA took over the Ghorasahan case to probe the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)`s role, which was first pointed to by Bihar Police.