The convicted individuals-Minhaj, Masruddin, and Tauheed-were part of the Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind module, the officials stated.

On July 11, 2021, the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested Minhaj from the Dubagga area. Following his disclosures, Masruddin and Tauheed were detained. Authorities recovered a cooker bomb from Minhaj’s residence, along with explosive materials and a pistol from the other accused.

Investigations revealed that the trio was planning a series of blasts in Uttar Pradesh around August 15, 2021, and were allegedly preparing for a major attack involving a human bomb.

Interrogations indicated that the accused acted on instructions from Umar Halmandi, a handler of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, who was engaged in recruitment and expanding the terror network within India. The conspiracy aimed to incite unrest in the state and nationwide following the Ram Mandir verdict, officials said.

The arrests followed information provided by Umar Halmandi, who had recruited individuals in Lucknow to establish the al-Qaeda module in the region. He also alerted police about the al-Qaeda affiliate ‘Ansaar Gajwatul Hind’ (AGH), which planned multiple terrorist acts before August 15, 2021, in various Uttar Pradesh cities, especially Lucknow.

Special Public Prosecutor Mithilesh Kumar Singh explained the investigation and prosecution process, stating that the Uttar Pradesh ATS received intelligence on Umar Halmandi operating along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to forge links for al-Qaeda in India.

“The ATS had information that Umar Halmandi, who is associated with al-Qaeda, was working on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and was given the responsibility of linking al-Qaeda in India. In this context, he contacted Tauheed, and Tauheed contacted Minhaj in Lucknow. Minhaj then involved Masruddin, and through Masruddin, three others-Muied, Mustaqueem, and Shakeel-were added,” he said.

Singh added that the accused primarily communicated online due to COVID-19 restrictions, which initially complicated evidence collection.

“It was 2021, the time of COVID. So at that time, physical contact was difficult. All contacts were being made online. And online itself, Tauheed contacted Minhaj. After that, it was difficult to gather evidence at that time. And when these people were caught based on information, the mobiles recovered from them had a lot of chatting… and through that, the whole case came out,” he said.

The prosecution presented 42 witnesses and 149 documents, along with 109 material exhibits. The defence produced five witnesses, according to the Special Public Prosecutor.

The verdict is regarded as a significant success for security agencies.

Earlier, in November last year, a special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) convicted two other accused in the al-Qaeda terror conspiracy case. Mohd. Mustaqueem and Shakeel, both from Lucknow, received 20 months’ imprisonment under section 25 (1B) (a) of the Arms Act, read with section 120B of the IPC. They were also fined Rs. 5000 each.