A National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court here on Tuesday sentenced the 18 convicts in the Wagamon terror camp case to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment (RI).
Pronouncing the sentence, NIA judge Kausar Edapagath ordered RI for one year and a fine of ₹25,000 under Section 10 of the Unlawful Activity Prevention Act (UAPA), five years of RI under Section 38 of UAPA, RI for seven years and a fine of ₹25,000 under the Explosive Substances Act, and another term of seven years under Section 120(B).
It also awarded 13 of them, who were found guilty under Section 20 of UAPA, to an additional term of seven years and a fine of ₹50,000.
The sentences shall run concurrently and the remand period of the convicts will be set off from the sentenced imprisonment.
Consequently, only four convicts - Abdul Sathar, Habib Salahi, Manzar Imam and Alam Jeb Afridi - will have to undergo imprisonment. The remaining convicts will continue to be in remand for other cases, including the Ahmedabad blasts case and the SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) camp case in Indore.
Four Keralites
On Monday, the court found 18 accused, including four Keralites, guilty in the case while acquitting 17 others for lack of evidence. Of the 38 accused, 35 were put on trial.
Wasiq Billa, an accused, is absconding. Mehboob Sheikh, another accused, was killed in Bhopal allegedly while attempting to escape from jail.
Abdul Subhan Qureshi, 38th accused and founder of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), was arrested this year.
Those convicted from Kerala are Saduli and his brother P.A. Shibily, Muhammed Ansar and Abdul Sathar, the last two from Aluva.
Six of the others convicted are from Karnataka, three from Madhya Pradesh, two from Jharkhand, and one each from Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Mumbai.
The case was registered at the Mundakayam police station in 2008 and a special investigation team (SIT) was formed.
The SIT had recovered an SUV and a bike used by the accused to travel from Ernakulam to Wagamon after a meeting at Binanipuram. The case was handed over to the NIA in December 2009.
As per the case, a secret camp by the banned SIMI was held from December 10 to 12, 2007 at Thangalpara in Wagamon as a prelude to the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts. Investigations had revealed that the participants were imparted training in handling arms, manufacture of petrol bombs, motorbike racing, and rope climbing, etc., during the camp.
Case for NIA in 2009
According to the NIA chargesheet, at the Wagamon camp, leaders of SIMI had conspired to conduct training camps for its active cadres and conducted camps in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and many other places.
