Special NIA Court Sentences 3 Bangladeshis to 5 Years for Harboring Terrorists in Pune

Mumbai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court on Thursday sentenced three Bangladeshis to five years in prison for harboring Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) terrorists from Bangladesh in Pune.

The special court convicted Muhammad Habibur Rehman Habib alias Raj Jesub Mandal, Hannan Anwar Hussain Khan alias Hannan Baburali Gazi and Mohd Azarali Subhanallah alias Raja Jesub Mandal under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Foreigners Act. The court also fined each of the defendants 2,000 lira.

Earlier, the court had convicted two more people – Ripen Hussain alias Rubel and Mohmmad Hasan Ali Mohammad Amer Ali – in October 2023. These people were sentenced to five years in prison.

Pune police first registered a case in March 2018 based on inputs regarding several Bangladeshi nationals who were staying in Pune without valid documents and harboring and aiding members of ABT, a front organization of banned terrorist outfit Al Qaeda.

Police nabbed Habib at Dhobighat, Bhairoba Nala, Pune in Maharashtra and subsequently arrested a total of five Bangladeshi nationals in the case.

NIA took over the case in May 2018. It found that the arrested Bangladeshi citizens had infiltrated India illegally. They obtain PAN cards, Aadhaar Cards, Voter IDs and Ration Cards etc. under fake names by submitting fake documents. They got it by fraud. They used these documents to get SIM cards from India, open bank accounts and look for jobs in India.

NIA investigations also revealed that the accused harbored and financed several ABT cadres, including Samad Mia alias Tanvir alias Saiful alias Tushar Biswas alias Tusar.