NIA arrests suspected LeT terrorist in Bangalore; outfit 'plans to target' religious leaders in AP, Karnataka

New Delhi: NIA has arrested a suspected Lashker-e-Taiba terrorist allegedly involved in a criminal conspiracy hatched by the terror group to target prominent religious leaders, politicians and journalists in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

According to NIA spokesperson, absconding Imran Ahmed alias Immu Bhai was arrested on Thursday and taken into custody after producing him before a court in Bangalore on Friday.

Ahmed was settled in a Gulf country and decided to return using a different passport which he had got by furnishing wrong information. He was picked up in Kanakpura Road in Bangalore.

NIA has already named 12 people in the charge sheet in this case earlier this year after taking the case over from Bangalore Police.

The Bangalore City police was also associated during the course of the investigation by the NIA.

The NIA claimed that probe showed that a conspiracy had been hatched by LeT with their associates in India in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

In furtherance of the conspiracy hatched by them, the accused persons decided to kill the selected targets including prominent politicians, religious leaders and journalists in Bangalore, Hubli, Hyderabad and Nanded with an intention of spreading terror and communal disharmony.

The NIA claimed that the accused persons had collected arms and ammunition, as well as stolen vehicles and collected instruments for committing offences and also received funds from the co-conspirators through illegal means. The NIA said that there were more people holed up in Gulf countries.