Court takes cognisance on charge sheet against Bhatkal, others

A Delhi court today took cognisance of NIA's second charge sheet against Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, his aide Asadullah Akhtar and two other suspected operatives of the banned group in connection with a case of alleged conspiracy to carry out terror acts in the country.
During an in-chamber hearing, district judge I S Mehta took cognisance of the 277-page supplementary charge sheet and fixed the matter for March 7 for further proceedings, court sources said.
National Investigation Agency (NIA) had named Bhatkal, Akhtar, Manzer Imam and Ujjair Ahmed as accused in the charge sheet for allegedly waging war against the country, conspiracy for terrorist acts, membership of a terror organisation, radicalisation and recruitment of youths into IM.

According to the sources, the charge sheet was filed against them under various sections of IPC, including 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging war against the country), 121-A (conspiracy to wage war) and under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The sources also said the NIA has defined the specific roles of Bhatkal, Akhtar and the two other accused in the entire conspiracy of IM to carry out the terror activities.
Bhatkal and Akhtar were among the 12 top IM members listed as absconders in the 42-page charge sheet filed earlier against arrested accused Mohammad Danish Ansari, Mohammad Aftab Alam, Imran Khan, Syed Maqbool and Obaid-Ur-Rehman under various penal provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and IPC for conspiracy to commit offences against India.