NIA Raids in 7 States Over LeT Terrorist Radicalization in Bengaluru Jail

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided several locations in seven states on Tuesday in a case related to the radicalisation of prisoners by a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorist in Bengaluru prison.

The NIA took up search operations at 17 places linked to the suspects of the case in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and five other states.

Following the seizure of arms and ammunition, including seven pistols, four hand grenades, one magazine and 45 live rounds, and four walkie-talkies in 2023, the Bengaluru City Police had originally registered the case.

Initially, five persons were arrested. Their interrogation led to the arrest of one more. Till now six persons have been arrested in this case.

In October 2023, the NIA took over the case and conducted subsequent raids.

As per reports, a LeT operative and kingpin, T Naseer, who radicalized these five persons in the central jail in Bengaluru, is an accused in the case along with Junaid Ahmed, who is currently absconding.

Naseer is serving a life sentence in Central Prison in Bengaluru since 2013. While in jail, he came in contact with the other accused — Mohammed Umar, Mohammed Faisal Rabbani, Tanveer Ahmed, Mohammed Farooq and Junaid Ahmed — while they were all lodged in Bengaluru Prison in 2017.

It is alleged that Naseer radicalized and recruited these individuals to commit violent terror acts.