Bengaluru radicalisation case: LeT operative gets 7 years of RI

LeT operative Vikram Kumar, alias Chota Usman, has been sentenced to seven years Rigorous Imprisonment by an NIA special court in the 2023 Bengaluru prison radicalisation case. He is the eighth accused to be convicted in the terror conspiracy.

Another key operative of the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist organisation has been convicted and sentenced by a special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the 2023 Bengaluru prison radicalisation case. The Bengaluru special court has sentenced Vikram Kumar, also known as Chota Usman, to seven years of Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) along with Rs.30,000 in fine, under various provisions of IPC, UA (P) Act and Explosive Substances Act.

Vikram is the eighth accused to be convicted and sentenced in the case, re-registered by NIA as RC-28/2023/NIA/DLI. Just last month, the court had sentenced seven other accused, including mastermind and LeT member T Naseer, who had hatched the terror radicalisation conspiracy while being an under-trial prisoner in the Parapanna Agrahara Central Prisons in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blast case.

Vikram Kumar's Role and Radicalisation

NIA investigation had revealed that the accused Vikram Kumar was radicalised and recruited by Naseer and co-accused Junaid Ahmed while in the Bengaluru prison. He had stayed in touch with Naseer and Junaid after his release. In May 2023, Vikram had collected a dead drop of hand grenades and walkie-talkies from Ambala in Haryana and handed them to a co-accused in Bengaluru. Vikram, who was funded by Junaid, was also involved in the larger conspiracy to facilitate the escape of T Naseer en route from the prison to a court, as part of LeT's agenda to promote terror activities in India and damage national security and sovereignty, as per the investigations of NIA.

Investigation and Broader Conspiracy

The case was originally registered by the Bengaluru Central Crime Branch (CCB) in July 2023 following the seizure of arms, ammunition and digital devices from habitual offenders, who had planned to unleash a series of terrorist attacks in Bengaluru city to further LeT's activities. NIA, which took over the case from CCB, had uncovered the larger conspiracy involved in the case, including the plot to facilitate Naseer's escape. The anti-terror agency had filed a chargesheet against 12 accused persons, including Junaid, who is still absconding. Efforts are on to track Junaid.

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