NIA court convicts two Ansarullah Bangla Team terrorists, sends 7 years behind bars

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Kolkata: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court in Kolkata on Tuesday (September 29, 2020) convicted two Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) terrorists and sentenced them to seven years of rigorous imprisonment. 

The two ABT terrorists have been identified as Sahadat Hussain and Umar Farooque who were also fined Rs 26,000 and Rs 33,000 respectively. 

Both the accused - members of banned terrorist outfit in Bangladesh pleaded guilty in the court. 

“Sahadat Hussain convicted u/s 120B, 121A, 125 of IPC, Sections 18 & 38 of UA(P) Act and Section 14 of Foreigners Act and Umar Farooque convicted u/s 120B, 121A, 125, 468, 471 & 474 of IPC, Sections 18 & 38 of UA(P) Act and Section 14 of Foreigners Act,” said a release from NIA. 

The case was initially registered by Kolkata Police’s Special Task Force (STF) and pertains to arrest of five members of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) in Kolkata. 

The NIA took over the case on March 1 in 2018 and the investigation revealed that Bangladeshi members of ABT entered India in 2016 in pursuance of the conspiracy to commit terrorist acts in India. 

The accused persons travelled and stayed at Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai in the guise of labourers. 

The investigation also revealed that the accused tried to procure chemicals from a shop in Patna and tried to establish hide-outs in Ranchi. 

The accused also tried to procure arms and ammunition in Kolkata and several incriminating materials like map of Sealdah Railway Station, Howrah Bridge, literature on explosives and bomb-making, fake Aadhaar Card, fake PAN Card were reportedly seized from their possession.