The special NIA court in Kochi hearing the Kanakamala IS module case, on Wednesday, pronounced the quantum of punishment for the six accused found guilty of terrorism.
Judge P Krishnakumar sentenced the first accused identified as Manseed Muhmood alias Omar al Hindi (30) to 14-year jail. The second accused, 29-year old Swalih Mohammad of Chelad, received a 10-year jail term, while accused number 3 viz. 27-year old Rashid Ali from Coimbatore, was given a 7-year jail term.
The 4th and 5th accused — 27-year old Kozhikode Kuttiady, native Ramshad and Tirur, native of Safwan, received three and 8-year jail terms respectively. The 8th accused, Kasaragod native Meynuddin Paravakadathu, was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment.
While the court ordered all the accused who have been found guilty to pay their fines, it also noted that it could not establish that any of the accused had links to the Islamic State, as alleged by the NIA.
In October 2016, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested six of the members during a raid at Kanakamala in Kannur district where the accused were conspiring to plan terrorist attacks across Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The NIA had told the court that the accused men belonged to a group called Ansar-ul-Khilafah Kerala, which supposedly had links to the Islamic State.
Among those facing trial in the IS Module case, the court acquitted 6th accused Kozhikode Kuttiady native NK Jasmin. The 7th accused Shajeer Mangalassery Abdulla from Kozhikode had been named by the NIA as the leader of the module and was reportedly gunned down in Afghanistan.
One more accused - Subhani Haja Moideen - is still undergoing trial. He is the 9th accused in the case. According to the NIA, Moideen was trained by the Islamic State in Mosul, Iraq and was even deployed at the war front, TOI reported.
The court found all the six men guilty of conspiracy and of being sympathisers of banned outfits. The prosecution could prove that the first, second and third accused had received funding to carry out terror activities, had recruited members to join a terror outfit and had themselves been members of the outfit.
However, the prosecution could not provide evidence to prove charges under IPC sections 121 and 122 that the accused had waged war against the country and collected arms and ammunition for this purpose.