NIA Raids 17 Locations in 7 States in Link With Bengaluru Prison Radicalisation Case

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency is conducting searches at 17 places in the seven states in connection with the Bengaluru Prison Radicalisation case.

These raids are currently underway in Bengaluru and Tamil Nadu, among other states, since this morning, and the places that are linked to the suspects, involved in the 'terror conspiracy' connected to the case.

Back in January, the anti-terror agency charge-sheeted 8b people, including a life convict and two absconders, in the Bengaluru Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Prison radicalisation and 'fidayeen' (suicide) attack conspiracy case, ANI reported. All these eight accused individuals have been charge-sheeted under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Explosives Substances Act, and the Arms Act.

Among the eight charge-sheeted accused is T Naseer from Kerala's Kannur district, who has been serving a life sentence in Central Prison in Bengaluru since 2013. Meanwhile, Junaid Ahmed, alias JD, and Salman Khan are suspected to have fled abroad.

The remaining others identified as Syed Suhail Khan alias Suhail, Mohammed Umar alias Umar, Zahid Tabrez alias Zahid, Syed Mudassir Pasha, and Mohammed Faisal Rabbani alias Sadath. 

The Bengaluru City Police originally registered the case in July 2023, following the seizure of arms, ammunition, hand grenades, and walkie-talkies from the possession of seven of the accused individuals.

The recovery was made while the seven men were gathered in the house of one of the accused.

The NIA took over the investigations into the case in October 2023 and revealed that T Naseer, who was involved in several blast cases, had come in contact with the other accused while they were all lodged in Bengaluru Prison in 2017.

Further, investigations in the case are underway under the provisions of Section 173(8) of the Code of Criminal Procedures (CrPC).

The fresh raids in the case were conducted two days after the Ministry of Home Affairs handed over Bengaluru's Rameshwaram Cafe blast probe to the NIA and the anti-terror agency started an investigation into it by re-registering the case.

(With ANI inputs)