The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on 24 December convicted and sentenced Shahnawaj Alam and Omar Faruque to five years of rigorous imprisonment in connection with the Islamic Terror Outfit Hizbul-Mujahideen (HM) recruitment case.

Two of them have been convicted under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, 18 (Punishment for conspiracy, etc), 18B (Recruiting persons for the terrorist act), 19 (Punishment for harboring), and 38 (Offence relating to membership of a terrorist organization) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for five years and with fine.

“The case was initially registered on September 14, 2018, at Jamunamukh Police Station in Assam’s Hojai district and later re-registered by the NIA on October 5, 2018. After investigations, a chargesheet was filed against five accused on March 11, 2019,” the NIA said in a press release.

Shanawaj Alam was arrested on September 13, 2018, as he had close connections with Kamruz Zaman, an Islamic terrorist of Hizbul-Mujahideen.

“During the investigation, it was discovered that accused Kamruj Zaman, Shahnawaz Alom, Saidul Alam, Omar Faruk, and others conspired to raise a module of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) in Assam to instill fear in the minds of people through terrorist activities,” the press release further said.