New Delhi, Sep 21 (PTI) A special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has convicted and sentenced Huzair Farhan Baig to six years of rigorous imprisonment in a terror conspiracy case linked to the proscribed terrorist organisation Islamic State (IS), officials said on Monday.
The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 58,000 on Huzair Farhan Baig, alias Huzair, they said.
The Karnataka Police had registered a case on September 19, 2022, which the NIA subsequently took over on November 15, 2022.
The investigation had unravelled an IS module operating clandestinely in Thirthahalli town in Shivamogga district.
The accused was being mentored by an online handler known as “Colonel,” who was later identified as Mohammed Shaheed Faisal, an absconding accused in various terror cases, a statement issued by the probe agency said.
Faizal was radicalising and recruiting youths to propagate the Islamic State ideology and to commit terrorist activities in India, it said.
The NIA said that Baig was radicalised and recruited by co-accused Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Syed Yasin.
On Maaz Muneer Ahmed’s instructions, Baig arranged a hideout in Bengaluru for terrorist activity, it said.
He also received funds in the form of cryptocurrency into accounts belonging to his friends, which were subsequently converted into fiat currency to make payments towards the hideout, the NIA said.
The funds were arranged by Ahmed through online handler Faizal, it added.
So far, the NIA has filed four chargesheets against 12 accused, three of whom have already been convicted and sentenced to six years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine.
NIA said it is working to trace and identify the whereabouts of Faizal, who planned and conspired to set up the module involved in this case. PTI AKV KSI KSI
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