15 September, Lucknow An official said on Friday that two individuals, Atif Muzaffar and Mohammad Faisal Khan, had been found guilty of killing retired school principal Ramesh Babu Shukla in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, as part of an ISIS plot and had received death sentences from a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court.
According to a representative for an anti-terror investigation agency, the court in this city condemned them to death on Thursday for three different felonies while also giving them life sentences and simple imprisonment for a number of other crimes.
The pair had already received a death sentence in another NIA ISIS Kanpur case.
According to the official, Muzaffar and Khan, both Kanpur residents, were found guilty of violating Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC and received the death punishment as well as a fine of Rs. 5 lakh.
In addition to receiving the death penalty and a fine of Rs 5 lakh under numerous provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, they were also given a death sentence and a punishment of Rs 50,000 under Section 120B of the IPC, the source said.
“The court also found them guilty under section 18 of the UA (P) Act and sentenced them to life in jail and a punishment of Rs 1 lakh for the said offence. In accordance with many articles of the Arms Act, they were also given a three-year term of simple jail and fined Rs 10,000, the source added.
The accused was declared guilty on September 4 by the NIA court of murdering the retiring principal of Swami Atmaprakash Brahmachari Junior High School in Kanpur on October 24, 2016, close to Pyondi village.
The official said that on the evening of March 7, 2017, “one more accused Mohammad Saifulla had died in an exchange of fire with the Anti-Terrorist Squad, UP.”
The official claimed that a charge sheet against the two suspects, which was submitted on July 12, 2018, revealed that they had been radicalised by the ideology of the outlawed terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and desired to purge the world of all “unbelievers (kafirs)”.
“The two guys had intended to carry out terrorist activities in India against non-Muslims in order to further the ideology of ISIS. They killed Shukla in order to further their criminal plot and spread fear among the populace, the official said.
At the Chakeri police station in Kanpur Nagar, a case was first opened on October 24, 2016, and on November 18, 2017, the NIA seized control of the investigation.
Muzaffar and Khan had already received a death sentence and a Rs 1,000 fine in a Kanpur ISIS case. The case was first filed on March 8, 2017, at PS ATS, Lucknow, and was refiled on March 14, 2017, by the National Investigation Agency.
Investigations into the case had shown that the defendants were ISIS militants who had pledged their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the Islamic State.
Muzaffar, the group’s Amir (leader), was inspired by Dr. Zakir Naik’s preaching.
The official said, “He was discovered to be often visiting IS-related websites, from which he was downloading information and films and sharing the same with the others in his group.
The accused were actively promoting ISIS’s operations in India and disseminating its ideology. According to the NIA investigation, the accused had some IEDs constructed, tested, and had made failed attempts to place them at different sites around UP.
“Handwritten notes regarding probable targets and information about bomb-making were discovered in a notebook that was taken from their hiding in Haji Colony (Lucknow). Additionally, investigations turned up multiple pictures of the suspects manufacturing IEDs as well as having firearms, ammo, and an ISIS flag. According to reports, the gang had amassed illicit firearms and explosives from several locations, the official said.
