India’s special National Investigation Agency (NIA) has pronounced the death sentence for four jihad terrorists, Numan Ansari, Haider Ali, Imtiyaz Ansari, and Mojibullah Ansari, who belong to the Islamic jihad terror outfit SIMI and were convicted in the 2013 Patna serial bombings. The October 2013 bombings targeted an election rally of the then-candidate and present Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. Among the other convicts, Umer Siddiqui and Azharuddin have been sentenced to life imprisonment; Ahmad Hussain and Firoj Aslam to ten years imprisonment, and Ifteqaar Alam to seven years.
Lalan Kumar Sinha, the special public prosecutor who represented the NIA in the court, disclosed that nine of the total ten accused were found guilty under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 302 for murder. Also, sections of the Explosives Act, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, and the Railways Act were brought against the defendants. Sinha affirmed that all the convicts were members of the banned Islamic jihad outfit, Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Gurwinder Singh Malhotra, an additional district and session’s judge of the special NIA court, found the nine guilty, but had to let off a tenth suspect, Fakruddin, for lack of evidence.
Sinha confirmed that five of these convicts had already been found guilty in the 2013 Bodh Gaya bombing case. He stated that he had demanded death sentences for all accused.
On April 24, 2014, a combined charge sheet was submitted against one of the accused, and a supplementary charge sheet was presented against ten individuals on August 22, 2014, including minors. The Patna Juvenile Justice Board convicted one of the minor accused, while allegations against a now-deceased accused were abated.
In its charge sheet, the NIA highlighted the fact that the suspects had developed the idea of the Patna blasts after failing to get closer to Modi during his previous rallies held in other major Indian cities and states, including New Delhi, Chhattisgarh and parts of Uttar Pradesh.
A series of eight bomb explosions rocked Patna, the capital city of India’s eastern state of Bihar, on October 27, 2013. The areas that were the direct target of the SIMI terrorists included the Gandhi Maidan, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was holding its election rally with an estimated 300,000 participants, and the Patna Railway Junction.
The NIA discovered that the attackers had detonated a suicide vest and tied it to a palm tree in the Ranchi’s Sithiyo area while preparing for the serial blasts. The arrest of Imtiaz, who was injured in an accidental blast at the Patna railway junction on the day of Modi’s Hunkaar rally, blew the lid off the plans. Tariq Ajam Ansari was another suspected SIMI terrorist who also died accidentally while placing a pencil battery into an IED inside a public toilet on platform at the railway station. At least three IEDs were successfully defused at the scene of the convention later.
There were more than 89 casualties in these terror attacks, and six civilians were reported dead.
“The original plan was to assassinate Modi through suicide bombing, but the terrorists gave up that plan after a recce showed that his fortress-like security cover would be hard to penetrate,” the special public prosecutor revealed. Narendra Modi was then the Chief Minister of Gujarat, and that he was widely detested by Islamists had long been established.
Cases were lodged on November 1, 2013. Though no one had claimed responsibility for the jihad terror attack, investigations suggested that the Indian Mujahideen was culpable. The Indian Mujahideen is an Islamic terrorist group helmed by Abdul Subhan Qureshi, who is now under arrest by the Delhi police. It was declared a terrorist organization and banned by the Indian government in June 2010. In October 2010, New Zealand also recognized it a terrorist group, and in September 2011, the United States placed the Indian Mujahideen on its list of foreign terrorist organizations, acknowledging that it had launched multiple terrorist attacks with the ultimate aim of establishing an Islamic caliphate across South Asia. The outfit was subsequently banned by the United Kingdom for trying to create an Islamic state and implementing Sharia law in India by means of indiscriminate violence.
Investigators believe that the Indian Mujahideen is a subsidiary of SIMI, formed by lower-tier members of SIMI. The Indian Intelligence Bureau suggests that SIMI began adopting new names after its top leaders were detained and made available for interrogation.
Kenneth J Johnson says
Ive nevr been on for capital Punishment, but cses like this make one think??
KEN
Kenneth J Johnson says
cORRECTION
I’ve never much for capital punishment but cases like this give one pause for thought. KEN
gravenimage says
India: Nine members of Students’ Islamic Movement of India convicted for roles in 2013 jihad bombings at Modi rally
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The Student’s Islamic Movement of India was banned as a terrorist organization there shortly after 9/11–but this has not stopped its functioning. They have declared Jihad against India, the aim of which is to establish Dar-ul-Islam (land of Islam) by either forcefully converting everyone to Islam or by violence.
They’ve been involved with bombings before, and have expressed solidarity with the taliban.
peter says
In every muslim’s heart in India ,there is always the desire to bring back the Moghulai ( Moghul rule) of pre-British era . They are waiting for the right opportunity . India needs to be very vigilant having learnt the lessons of the past .They have to take with a grain of salt what is written in history books written during the Congress era of Nehru and Gandhi.
Infidel says
Despite a BJP government being in power, India has done little on the educational front. NCERT is now demanding common bathrooms for boys & girls – India is catching up on wokeness as well. Reminds me of Rush Limbaugh’s prescription for making the US competitive: export Liberalism. Now if only that could be exported to China, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria and a handful of other muslim countries
Mohinder Rawat says
A good post. However, there is a major error, albeit quite unintentional, I am sure. The sentence against the terrorist culrits was pronounced by a desugnated court and not by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) which is a law enforcement organisation, as the name suggests.