IISc shooting: Karnataka HC upholds conviction of 5 Lashkar operatives'

Bengaluru, May 11: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday upheld the conviction of 5 Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operatives to life imprisonment for conspiring to wage war against the country.

The division bench of Justice Mohan M Shanthana Goudar and Justice K N Phaneendra pronounced the judgment imposing life imprisonment under section 121-A of the Indian Penal Code.

Those convicted are Mohammed Razur Rehman of Nalgonda (Telangana), Afsar Pasha of Bengaluru, Noorullah Khan of Chintamani, Mohammed Irfan of Uttar Pradesh and Nazmuddin alias Munna of Chintamani.

All accused were arrested when an investigating team probing the 2005 shooting at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) which killed retired IIT (Delhi) professor M?C?Puri, found evidence about their terror activities.

The division bench stated, "In our opinion, their (convicts) intention and mindset are sufficient to attract the provision under section 121-A of IPC. The mere conduct of the accused persons and circumstances in taking such a decision irrespective of any further activity in order to cause damage to the government, even without any benefit, would amount to conspiracy in order to wage war against the Government of India."

The High Court ordered release of one accused Mehaboob Ibrahim since he had already completed seven years' imprisonment under the Arms Act and no other evidence was found against him.

A fast track court (FTC) had convicted six accused on December 17, 2011 with life imprisonment under Section 121 of IPC (waging or attempting to wage war). Of the eight chargesheeted, the FTC had acquitted one, while the prime accused was absconding.

The accused had moved the High Court with an appeal against this judgment. The state government had also filed an appeal seeking enhancement of punishment from life to death. The division bench dismissed both the appeals and upheld the conviction by the fast track court.

Though the case was cracked during investigations into the IISc attack, it has no connection to the incident. A police team led by then deputy superintendent of police Victor S D'Souza, arrested main accused Mohammed Razur Rehman, who according to the police, planned to attack dargahs with the other accused so that another community would be blamed.

During interrogation, it was found that they played no role in the IISc attack, but had stored arms and explosives to carry out attacks. Police had recovered jihadi literature and other material written by extremists. During the search, the police recovered a diary, published in Bangladesh in 2003, in which the terrorists had recorded their acts.