A special NIA court on Monday gave the death penalty to Ahmed Murtaza Abbasi, who is accused of the 2022 Gorakhnath Temple attack in Lucknow.
Abbasi received the death penalty in Section 121 and life imprisonment in Section 307 of the Indian Penal Court. Special Judge in the NIA Court of Lucknow, Vivekanand Sharan Tripathi delivered the judgement in the case.
Abbasi, an IIT graduate and a chemical engineer, tried to forcibly enter the famous Gorakhnath Temple from the southern gate on April 3 and attacked security personnel with a sickle.
He injured two Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) constables and tried to snatch their rifles after rushing towards the temple's security post but was overpowered by other security staff. Police arrested Abbasi on the spot.
Past crimes
Abbasi was also arrested in 2014 by Bengaluru Police for being in contact with ISIS propaganda activist Mehdi Masroor Biswas. "He was influenced by terror orgs radical preachers & ISIS-terrorism promoters," the ADG added.
Who is Ahmed Murtaza Abbasi?
Murtaza, a pass out of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai belonged to a respectable family of east UP. While his father is a leading lawyer of Gorakhpur, he too has served in big corporate houses earlier.
