NIA court awards 5-yr jail to Mohammed Saleem

New Delhi: A special court in Chennai has awarded five years jail to Mohammed Saleem in a case pertaining to counterfeiting currency notes and planning terrorist acts in south India in which the NIA has initiated a process for Interpol Red Corner notice against Pakistani diplomat Amir Zubair Siddiqui.

Saleem had pleaded guilty after which he was sentenced to a simple imprisonment of five years with a fine of Rs 2,000, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) spokesman said Tuesday.

The case, being heard by the special NIA court, pertains to a criminal conspiracy hatched by Saleem and others along with the then officials of the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo, Sri Lanka, during early 2014, with the intention of causing an explosion at the US Consulate and other places of public congregation in Chennai, and other installations in south India.

The accused had also procured high-quality counterfeit Indian currency notes for meeting the expenses towards such terrorist activities, the spokesman said.

The case was exposed by the Intelligence Bureau along with the Tamil Nadu Police on April 28, 2014, with the arrest of a Sri Lankan national Mohamed Sakir Hussain, who had arrived in Chennai to carry out the terrorist acts as per instructions from his handlers in the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo. Later, the accused, Saleem and Sivabalan, were arrested on May 1 of the same year and high-quality counterfeit Indian currency notes were also seized from them.