The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a chargesheet against two alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives, who were arrested from Bengaluru in a conspiracy case dating to February 2012. Basaveshwaranagar Nagar police in Bengaluru had arrested the two accused — Dr Sabeel Ahmed and Asadulla Khan — on August 29, 2012, after they were caught in possession of arms and ammunition. In 2016, the NIA special court in Bengaluru had convicted 13 other accused persons in the case.
The case pertains to an alleged conspiracy that was hatched by members of the terrorist organizations Lashkar-e-Taiba (L-e-T) and Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJI) “to commit subversive activities and wage war against the government of India. They had procured illegal arms and ammunition for targeted killings of important personalities of the Hindu community in Bangalore and Hubli in Karnataka, Nanded in Maharashtra and in Hyderabad, Telangana, to disturb the communal harmony and strike terror in society,” said NIA.
The investigation agency accused Sabeel Ahmed and Asadulla Khan of being members of the terrorist organisation, LeT. "They were involved in a criminal conspiracy along with other accused person in supporting and furthering the cause of LeT in Dammam and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. They had actively participated in conspiracy meetings,' it said. '
The two have been charged under section 120B of the Indian Penal Code, which pertains to criminal conspiracy; as well as section 18 (conspiracy), 38 (offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation), 39 (offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA.
The NIA Special Court, Bengaluru, had earlier convicted 13 accused persons on September 16, 2016, with five years imprisonment, with a fine for their involvement in offences under various sections of UAPA, IPC, the Arms Act, 1959, and Official Secrets Act (India).
The NIA has also said that the trial against the three accused, who had been named in the chargesheet earlier, is going on and further investigation against the six absconding accused is continued.