Zee Media Bureau
Patna: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a chargesheet against ten people, including alleged activist of banned SIMI group Hyder Ali, who is also a suspected accused in the Patna serial blasts which rocked the capital city ahead of the October 27, 2013 rally by Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
The NIA, which filed the charge sheet in a special court, alleged that Ali, who was SIMI in-charge of Jharkhand, had allegedly conspired with others to target Modi.
According to the chargesheet, the accused wanted to target Modi as they thought that it would be inimical to their interests if he became the Prime Minister, and in pursuance of this conspiracy, Ali and his associates had conducted reconnaissance of various rallies to take stock of the security arrangements and plan for attacks.
"After realising that it was not possible to reach Modi during such rallies due to stringent security arrangements, the accused Ali and other co-conspirators decided to trigger bomb blasts at one such public rally which would result in a stampede and in the ensuing melee and chaos, they could reach to Modi," the charge sheet said.
Giving details of the alleged conspiracy, NIA said the
accused had collected explosives from Mirzapur and other material from Patna to fabricate improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Ali, who allegedly also planted bombs at Bodh Gaya last year, had given up the idea of planting cylinder bombs as they were not that effective. After learning how to make bombs from "Inspire" magazine of banned terror group al Qaeda, they fabricated IEDs in pipe-elbow style, according to the charge sheet.
The charge sheet in the serial blasts case, in which six people were killed and 89 injured, also names Numan Ansari, Mujibullah Ansari, Umer Siddique, Azharuddin Quresh, Ahmad Hussain, Fakkruddin, Firoz Aslam, Iftheqar Alam and a juvenile.
According to the NIA, Ali and his associates were members of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and had been motivating and recruiting young boys from Ranchi and other places by showing them Jehadi videos.
This is the second charge sheet filed by NIA in this case.
Witnesses have told the NIA that Azharuddin Qureshi, one of the accused charged in the case, planned to go to Afghanistan after carrying out bomb blasts in the country, reports stated.
Besides Haidar and Azharuddin, the agency has reportedly charged Numan Ansari, Taufique Ansari, Mujibullah, Umer Siddique, Ahmad Hussain, Fakhruddin, Firoz Aslam and Ifteqaar in the case.
Before the present chargesheet, the NIA had charged Imtiaz Ansari in the case as well who was arrested on the day of blasts from Patna railway station.
With agency inputs
First Published: Saturday, August 23, 2014, 00:20
