2018 terror conspiracy case: NIA court sentences 3 Kashmiri students to 10 years in jail, acquits one

3 min readMohaliUpdated: Jun 5, 2026 04:28 AM IST

However, the court acquitted another accused, Suhail Ahmed Bhat, holding that the prosecution had failed to establish the charges framed against him beyond reasonable doubt. Zahid, Yasir and Idris have been in judicial custody since October 10, 2018.

A special NIA court in Mohali on Thursday sentenced three students from Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for conspiring to wage war against India and collecting arms and explosives as part of a terror plot linked to the banned outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH). Police had booked them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) after they were arrested with arms, ammunition and explosives from the hostel room of an engineering college in Jalandhar in October 2018.

Special Judge Dinesh Kumar Wadhwa announced the quantum of punishment a day after he held Zahid Gulzar, Yasir Rafiq Bhat and Mohammad Idris Shah guilty under Sections 121-A (conspiracy to wage war against the Government of India ), 122 (collecting men, arms or ammunition with the intention of waging war) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, Sections 18 and 20 of the UAPA for conspiracy, abetment to a terrorist act and membership of a terrorist organisation, Section 25(A-1) (possession and handling of prohibited arms or ammunition without authorisation) of the Arms Act and Section 5 (possessing explosive substances under suspicious circumstances or for unlawful purposes) of the Explosive Substances Act.

However, the court acquitted another accused, Suhail Ahmed Bhat, holding that the prosecution had failed to establish the charges framed against him beyond reasonable doubt.

Zahid, Yasir and Idris have been in judicial custody since October 10, 2018, the day they were arrested following a police raid at a hostel of CT Institution’s Shahpur campus in Jalandhar. Police had recovered an AK-series rifle, two magazines, 54 live cartridges, a Mauser pistol with two magazines and 31 live rounds, and nearly one kilogram of explosive material. As per the hostel records, the room from where recovery was made was occupied by Zahid and Yasir. The FIR in the matter was registered at Sadar police station in Jalandhar, and later taken over by the National Investigation Agency.

According to the prosecution, the accused were associated with the AGH, a banned terrorist outfit, and had been receiving funds to promote the organisation’s activities and were attempting to recruit other students from the institution into the outfit.

During the course of the investigation, police claimed that Yasir, a relative of former AGH chief Zakir Musa, had played a significant role in procuring explosive material and motivating Kashmiri students studying at the institution to join the organisation and participate in its activities.

The prosecution submitted in the court that the recovery of sophisticated weapons, ammunition and explosives, coupled with electronic and documentary evidence collected during the investigation, established the involvement of the accused in activities linked to the banned outfit.

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During the trial, the accused challenged the charges framed against them, the sanction granted under the UAPA and the admissibility of evidence.

The court, on hearing both sides, held that the chain of evidence was complete that the prosecution had proven the the role of Zahid, Yasir and Idris in the conspiracy and concealment and transportation of arms, ammunition and explosives from locations near Gurdaspur and Amritsar.

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