The court of the additional district judge Friday convicted 6 accused, including two Pakistani nationals, in the attack on a CRPF camp in Rampur in 2008 in which eight persons including seven jawans of the paramilitary forces were killed. Two of the accused, Qauser Farouqi and Gulab Khan, who were accused of hiding the weapons used in the attack have been acquitted.
As per latest reports, 4 of the 6 accused, including the two Pakistanis, have been sentenced to death.
According to the Anti-Terrorist Squad those who have been convicted were identified as, Sharif (resident of Rampur), Salauddin (resident of Bihar’s Madhubani), Imran (resident of Bhimhar in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir), Muhammad Farooq (resident of Gujranwala in Pakistan), Jung Bahadur (a resident of Moradabad) and Faheem Arshad Ansari (a resident of Mumbai). All have been lodged in jails in Lucknow and Bareily, confirmed ADG ATS Dhruva Kant Thakur.
Sharif, Farooq, Salauddin and Imran have been sentenced to death. Another accused has been given a life-term while Faheem Ansari has been sentenced to 10 years in Jail.
In the attack which took place in the wee hours of January 1, 2008, seven Central Reserve Police Force personnel were among eight persons killed and five injured when heavily-armed terrorists stormed a camp of the paramilitary force in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh.
After carrying out the audacious attack at the CRPF recruitment centre, all the four suspected Lashkar terrorists managed to escape.
Armed with AK-47 rifles and grenades, a group of four terrorists in CRPF uniform swooped on the sentry post located along a railway track within the centre at 0230 hours, killing four paramilitary personnel and a rickshaw puller.
After the first attack, the terrorists hurled a grenade at the main gate besides firing indiscriminately. The quick reaction team of the recruitment centre hit back at the terrorists forcing three of them to flee. One, however, managed to enter the administrative block of the centre where he killed three unarmed CRPF men. The CRPF personnel fired at the lone terrorist who also managed to escape from the recruitment centre, spread over 150 acres, under the cover of darkness.
On February 10, 2008, in a major breakthrough in the case of terror strikes on a CRPF camp in Rampur, Central security agencies and Uttar Pradesh police had arrested six suspected LeT militants from two places in the state as they were planning to move out to Mumbai—their next target. These two Pakistani nationals, Imran and Farooq were nabbed then from Lucknow, when they were trying to leave the city.
In 2017, in a joint operation of Anti-Terrorist Squads (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra Police, another LeT operative, suspected to be involved in the attack, was nabbed at the Mumbai airport after he was deported from the United Arab Emirates.
Later, cases were registered against eight persons under various sections of IPC, Arms Act, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, The Explosive Substances Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
