Lucknow, Sep 14 (PTI) A special NIA court here on Thursday pronounced death sentence to two men linked to the ISIS for killing a retired school principal in Kanpur and indulging in terror activities, observing that the "motive of this murder was to spread terror among non-Muslims".
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) court also imposed Rs 11.20 lakh fine on each of the two convicts, Atif Muzaffar and Mohammad Faisal, and said that the amount would be given to the dependents of deceased principal Ramesh Babu Shukla.
The court said that once the death penalty was confirmed by the high court, the two would be hanged till death.
Pronouncing the sentence, Judge Dinesh Kumar Mishra said that the act of the convicts fell into the rarest of the rare category and hence they deserved the death penalty.
“The murder of Ramesh Babu Shukla did not fall in ordinary category because his death was committed by the accused to show commitment with the banned terror group ISIS and the murder was committed after ensuring that Shukla belonged to non-Muslim religion,” observed the court.
The court further added, “The convicts had no enmity with the deceased nor the deceased had made any objectionable comments against Muslims. The motive of committing this murder was to spread the Shariat (Islamic law) and cause terror among non-Muslims.”
Shukla was shot dead in Kanpur on October 24, 2016. Initially the FIR in the case was lodged by his son Akshay Shukla with Chakeri police station against unidentified persons.
The NIA had first arrested Muzaffar and Faisal in connection with the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train blast that took place on March 8, 2017. Later, Muzaffar confessed that he along with Faisal and others committed the murder of retired principal Shukla after confirming that he was a Hindu while recognizing him by his 'kalawa' (sacred thread).
The day when the train blast had taken place, a terrorist linked to the proscribed ISIS group, Mohammad Saifullah, was shot dead in Lucknow in an encounter.
Eight guns and several cartridges were recovered from his house. The NIA conducted the investigation in the case. In a forensic test, it was found that the bullet recovered from the body of Shukla was fired by a gun recovered from the house of Saifullah.
After completing the probe, the charge sheet was filed against the two accused in the special court by the NIA.