2 Khagragarh blast case accused get 7-year jail term

A special NIA court on Tuesday awarded seven years' jail term to two accused in the Khagragarh blast case of 2014, in which the involvement of Bangladeshi terror group JMB was found.

A special NIA court on Tuesday awarded seven years' jail term to two accused in the Khagragarh blast case of 2014, in which the involvement of Bangladeshi terror group JMB was found. With this, 30 of the total 33 accused in the case have been convicted and sentenced. Trial process against one is on, while the remaining two are still absconding.

Special NIA court judge Prasenjit Biswas convicted Mustafizzur Rahman alias Saqib and Kadar Kazi alias Kador for waging war against any Asiatic Power in alliance with the Government of India, criminal conspiracy and under various sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The court sentenced them to seven years in prison and slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 on each of the two.

Both Kador and Saqib had pleaded guilty to the charges brought against them by the National Investigation Agency before the court, NIA prosecutor Shyamal Ghosh said. Two suspected terrorists were killed and a third was injured while they were making bombs and explosive devices in a rented house at Khagragarh in Burdwan town of West Bengal.

Links with terror group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were found in the blast that took place on October 2, 2014. The NIA had filed the primary chargesheet in the case in March 2015, saying that there was a "conspiracy of JMB, a proscribed terrorist organisation in Bangladesh, to overthrow the existing government in Bangladesh through violent terrorist acts".

The investigation into the case was first taken up by the West Bengal CID. It was transferred to the NIA within a few days..