On Monday, September 5, the special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Lucknow convicted two highly radicalised ISIS terrorists Atif Muzaffar and Mohammad Faisal Khan. The duo are guilty of the murder of a retired school principal Ram Babu Shukla that took place in Kanpur in 2016. The court also found them guilty of promoting the agenda of the terrorist organisation ISIS.
A report by the Hindi daily Jagran revealed how the innocent principal was targeted only because of his religious identity. It read that the duo had reportedly shot the retired Hindu teacher in broad daylight after seeing a Kalawa on his wrist and a Tilak on his forehead. Moreover, the terrorists simply carried out the killing because they wanted to test the new pistol they had recently acquired from their handlers and also because they wanted to instil fear amongst the non-Muslims.
A Vishnapuri resident named Ramesh Babu Shukla was killed on October 24, 2016, while he was returning home on his bicycle. The terrorists attacked him when he reached the Pyondi village. At first, the police began investigating the case as a simple murder case and registered a case against unknown people.
Meanwhile, in March 2017, a deadly blast happened on the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train. The train explosion on March 7, 2017, left 10 injured. This case was also investigated by the NIA. The breakthrough in the ISIS-backed criminal conspiracy case came when the main accused Mohammad Faisal Khan was arrested for his involvement in the Madhya Pradesh train explosion of March 7, 2017. Disclosures made by him led to the arrest of his other associates including Atif Muzaffar.
In March this year, the NIA court awarded death sentences to Atif, Faisal, and five others in a terror conspiracy case registered in 2017. Another accused, Mohammad Atif, was given life imprisonment in the case. Atif Muzaffar and Mohammad Faisal Khan’s role in the murder of Ramesh Babu Shukla (60), the retired Kanpur principal, came to light during their questioning in this train blast case.
The NIA court, meanwhile, has charged Atif Muzaffar and Mohammad Faisal Khan under the sections of IPC 320 (murder) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) along with sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Arms Act. The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment in the case on September 11.
On September 4, NIA in a press release stated that the chargesheet filed against the convicts Atif Muzaffar and Mohammad Faisal Khan in 2018 revealed that they had been radicalised by the ISIS ideology and were out to kill whom they believed to be ‘Kafirs’ (disbelievers).
“Investigations by NIA revealed that the accused were operating under the influence of ISIS, a proscribed terrorist organisation. They had conspired to carry out terrorist activities (Jihad) in India by targeting non-Muslims through violent acts. In furtherance of their conspiracy to promote the ISIS ideology & agenda, they murdered Shukla to strike terror and alarm in the minds of the common people,” the NIA press note read.
NIA COURT FINDS 2 GUILTY OF MURDER OF RETD. KANPUR SCHOOL PRINCIPAL IN FURTHERANCE OF ISIS AGENDA pic.twitter.com/X7ca4Zmxsx
— NIA India (@NIA_India) September 4, 2023
Earlier, on March 7, 2017, the third accused in the case, Mohammad Saifulla, was neutralised in a confrontation with the Anti-Terrorist Squad of Uttar Pradesh.
The convicts killed the Hindu teacher after identifying his religious identity
During interrogation in the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train blast case, the arrested ISIS terrorists revealed that two of their associates- Atif Muzaffar and Mohammad Faisal Khan, along with Mohammad Saifullah, had murdered the retired Principal Ramesh Babu Shukla to strike terror in the minds of the ‘Kafirs’ and increase the influence of ISIS.
Atif Muzaffar and Mohammad Faisal also confessed during questioning that they wanted to instil terror in the minds of non-Muslims and strengthen ISIS’ influence. They further added that they had been brand-new guns by their handlers so he decided to murder someone to test it out.
The two approached Ram Babu Shukla on the fatal day of October 24, 2016, while he was riding his bicycle back. They recognized him as a Hindu when they noticed that he was wearing a tilak on his forehead and a Kalava on his wrist. Shukla was questioned about his name. The two shot the former principal with their revolver and fled the scene as soon as he revealed his name and that he was a Hindu.
The NIA recovered the pistol used in the murder from Hyde House, Lucknow. The bullet recovered from the body of the Principal was tested at FSL Chandigarh. On examination it was found that Ramesh Babu Shukla was killed by the bullet fired from the pistol recovered from Hyde House.
