Bengaluru Court Awards 7-Year Rigorous Imprisonment To LeT-Linked Operatives In NIA Case

Bengaluru: A Bengaluru Court has sentenced Vikram alias Chota Usman to undergo seven years of rigorous imprisonment in a NIA related case, where he was accused of working for LeT modules in the State.

Apart from Vikram, the court also sentenced Tadiyandavida Naseer alias T Naseer to undergo seven years RI, who is already convicted for life with respect to Bengaluru serial blast case. The others convicted by the court include Syed Suhail Khan, Mohammed Umar, Zahid Tabrez, Syed Mudassir Pasha, Mohammed Syed Rabbani and Salman Khan.

Interestingly, Vikram was arrested in 2017 in connection with a murder case. He came into contact with LeT operator Junaid and T Naseer, the main accused in Bengaluru serial blast case through his friend Uman Sharief.

He was radicalised and converted into Islam. After his release from jail, Vikram started working with various people, who were in contact with Naseer and his LeT operators. Both Vikram and Naseer were in touch with each other through encrypted communication platforms.

As per the instructions of Junaid, in May 2023, Vikram went to Ambala in Haryana and picked up a dead drop parcel containing hand grenades and walkie talkies and brought it to Bengaluru. After his return, he stayed in the house of Syed Suhail Khan and handed over the walkie talkies to Suhail's father Junaid Ahmed and Zahid Tabrez.

The grenades  were meant to be used for larger operations like getting T Naseer released from the jail enroute to court and other activities. However, their luck ran out when the Bengaluru police raided their house in R T Nagar and handed over the case to NIA.