An NIA court here has sentenced three Pulwama youths Zahid Gulzar, Yasir Rafiq Bhat and Mohammed Idris Shah to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment in a 2018 UAPA case.
The three had been arrested from the hostel of CT Institution at Shahpur Campus, Jalandhar, for possession of arms, ammunition, explosives and planning to carry out some unlawful activities on October 10, 2018. The court convicted the three students on the charge of criminal conspiracy and under the UAPA Act and Explosives Act.
However, the court acquitted Suhail Ahmed Bhat in the case as the prosecution failed to prove charges against him.
The police said the three youths, associated with terrorist group Ansar Ghazwat Ul-Hind, received funds for carrying out unlawful activities and were engaged in recruiting other students of the college to their group.
After registering a case (FIR No.166/2018) against them at the Sadar police station in Jalandhar, the police arrested them following a raid.
The police seized one AK rifle with two magazines and 54 rounds, one Mauser pistol with two magazines and 31 rounds and about one-kg explosives from their possession.
During the investigation, it was found that Yasir Rafiq Bhat, a cousin of Ansar Ghazwat Ul-Hind chief Zakir Musa, had played an important role in the procurement of the explosives besides motivating Kashmiri students at the CT Institution to join his group and carry out unlawful activities.
