Second accused in Bengaluru IS terror case gets 7-year jail after guilty plea

A second person accused in an alleged Islamic State (IS) terrorism plot that emerged in 2019 and spanned Karnataka and Tamil Nadu has been sentenced to seven years in prison in Bengaluru after he pleaded guilty to the charges.

A special court for National Investigation Agency (NIA) cases sentenced Syed Fasiur Rehaman, 37, on August 29 on charges of being part of a terrorist group, recruiting people and raising funds for it. A resident of Bengaluru, Rehaman is among 20 people chargesheeted in the case related to the “Al Hind module”, which allegedly recruited members at the instance of foreign handlers and terror suspects in South India in 2019-20.

On August 25, Rehaman pleaded guilty to eight charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code, and one charge under the Arms Act. Rehaman pleaded "not guilty" in September 2025 but changed his plea on account of being in prison for nearly six years and the trial being at an early stage, sources said.

In July this year, Mohammed Haneef, 31, another Karnataka resident accused of being a member of the module, similarly pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years in prison. The sentences against the accused "shall run concurrently" and "the period of detention undergone in judicial custody shall be set off against the term of imprisonment imposed", the NIA court said in its order.

“The members of the terrorist gang conducted meetings at Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and propagated ISIS ideology, procured arms and ammunition and other incriminating material for executing their plans," the NIA had said.

'Radicalisation under the pretext of social service' The plot emerged in December 2019 after the Tamil Nadu police began a hunt for an alleged Islamic State-linked radical, Khaja Moideen, 52, who disappeared despite being under trial for two terrorism cases in the state from 2014 and 2017: the murder of a right-wing Hindu leader and the recruitment of youths on behalf of Islamic State.

According to the police, Moideen engaged in radicalisation and recruitment activities for Islamic State after his release from prison in April 2019 under the pretext of carrying out social service with a group called the Al Hind Trust set up in Bengaluru by his associate Mehboob Pasha.

Another key figure identified in the terrorism plot was Abdul Matheen Taha, 34, an engineering graduate from Shivamogga in Karnataka who was arrested in 2024 after his alleged role emerged in the March 1, 2024, blast at the Rameshwaram Cafe in Bengaluru.

Taha and his associate Mussavir Hussain Shazib, who are both accused in the cafe blast case, were allegedly among 18 people Moideen and Pasha recruited for Islamic State activities. Two members of the group are incidentally accused of shooting down a policeman, Wilson, on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border on January 8, 2020.

Incidentally, Moideen was acquitted by a Tamil Nadu court in a 2017 case where he was accused by the NIA of involvement in an Islamic State recruitment effort.