The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed the charge sheet against five Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists before a special NIA court in Patna in the Darbhanga railway station blast case.

The charge sheet was filed on Thursday (December 23) against Mohammed Nasir Khan and his brother Imran Malik, who are natives of Kairana of Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh. They had been living in Hyderabad. Other accused Saleem Ahmed and Kafil Ahmad are also from Kairana whereas the fifth accused Iqbal Mohammed alias Iqbal Kana is also from Shamli and currently operates from Lahore.

The agency has booked them under sections 120B, 468, and 471 of the IPC, Sections 3, 4, and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908, and sections 16, 17, 18, 18B, 20, 23, 38, 39 and 40 of the UA(P) Act.

NIA files charge sheet against LeT operatives in Darbhanga railway station parcel blast case (left to right) Saleem Ahmed, Mohammed Nasir Khan, his brother Imran Malik, and Kafil Ahmad. Image source The Hindu

LeT planned to set ablaze moving Secunderabad-Darbhanga Express

On June 17 this year an explosion took place took place at Darbhanga Railway Station in Bihar. The NIA took over the case after a police investigation indicated it was terrorist activity.

NIA investigation revealed that LeT terrorists had planned to set ablaze a moving Secunderabad-Darbhanga Express train by placing IEDs in the train.

NIA claimed that Nasir Khan and his brother on the instance of Iqbal Kana configured the IED by using locally procured chemicals. They placed it in a parcel of clothes and on June 15, they booked the parcel at the Secunderabad railway office. During the booking, they used a fake PAN card to hide their identity. The train departs at night and the accused had planned to trigger the blast during night hours so that fire caused by the explosion cause maximum damage.

Luckily, the bomb exploded after the parcel was offloaded at the Darbhanga railway station and no injury was reported during the blast.

The NIA claimed that Nasir Khan on the instruction of Iqbal Kana had also secretly visited Pakistan on some occasions to receive training in the handling of arms and ammunition and configuring IEDs. For instance, in 2012 he had visited Pakistan when he learned the technique of configuring chemical bombs. Besides, he received funds from Pakistan on various occasions for executing the conspiracy.

NIA investigation revealed that other accused Saleem Ahmed also knew Iqbal Kana as both were from the same village. Iqbal Kana was initially involved in the smuggling of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) and Saleem Ahmed in the crime. Saleem Ahmed had also Pakistan several times during 1990-2005 on the name import of garments.

After the incident, Pakistani handlers tried to facilitate their escape abroad via Nepal. But they were arrested.

References:

opindia.com - OpIndia Staff