NIA court convicts 2 for murder of retired UP school principal

A special NIA court in Lucknow has convicted two persons, Atif Muzaffar and Mohammed Faisal Khan, in a case related to the killing of a retired school principal

Lucknow: A special NIA court in Lucknow has convicted two persons, Atif Muzaffar and Mohammed Faisal Khan, in a case related to the killing of a retired school principal, allegedly under the influence of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an NIA spokesman said.

The court on Monday charged the two guilty under the sections of IPC 302 (murder), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), along with sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment in the case on September 11. NIA said that on October 24, 2016, Ram Babu Shukla, who retired as the principal of Swami Atmaprakash Brahmachari Junior High School in Kanpur, was killed while he was returning home on a bicycle.

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He was attacked by the accused near Pyondi village in Kanpur. The case was handed over to the NIA in November 2017. The anti-terror agency had filed a chargesheet against the two accused on July 12, 2018, after investigations revealed that the accused had been radicalised by the ISIS ideology and were out to kill people whom they believed to be “disbelievers”.

A third accused, Mohammad Saifulla, had died in Lucknow during the exchange of fire with the Anti-Terrorist Squad on March 7, 2017. Investigations by NIA revealed that the accused were operating under the influence of ISIS, a banned terrorist organisation.

“They had murdered Ram Babu Shukla to strike terror and alarm in the minds of the common people,” NIA spokesman said.