KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court upheld the life sentence of a Pakistani militant, who was caught in Kolkata nearly a decade and a half ago. The Division Bench comprising Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi upheld the life sentence.
The Special Task Force (STF) of Kolkata Police had arrested the militant identified as Shahbaz Ismail on March 19, 2009 after getting information from reliable sources. It was later revealed that Shahbaz was a trained militant. He was found carrying explosives to Jammu and Kashmir.
The accused was reportedly a trained militant of Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Al-Badr and was arrested while he was booking railway tickets from Fairlie Place for his journey to Srinagar in the guise of an Indian citizen named Md Jamal of Jalangi in Murshidabad.
A fake driving licence, fake voter card, a mobile phone with Bangladesh SIM card, explosives, a pocket diary with names, phone numbers and documents of making IEDs (explosives) were seized from him. The officials of Hare Street police station filed a case against him under multiple charges such as sedition and fraud. Upon investigation, it was learned that Shahbaz had received training by a militant group in using AK-47 rifle, pistol, rocket launcher, hand grenade as well as RDX and TNT explosives. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the lower court in March 2021.