Terrorist Musa, Who Planned ISIS-Style Killings In Kolkata, Sentenced To Life Imprisonment

A special NIA court in Kolkata on Friday sentenced Mohd Mosiuddin alias Musa, accused of plotting ISIS-style chilling execution of foreigners, to life imprisonment. Musa was arrested from a passenger train in West Bengal's Burdwan in July 2016 by the state CID, following which the NIA had taken over the probe into the matter. Chief Judge Siddhartha Kanjilal sentenced Musa to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of conspiring to wage war against the government of India and collecting men and weapons for the purpose.

According to a charge sheet filed earlier by NIA, Musa was plotting ISIS-style chilling execution of foreigners, especially those from the US, Russia, and the UK, visiting the Mother House in Kolkata. NIA counsel Shyamal Ghosh, claiming that Musa is a terrorist inspired by ISIS and was plotting murderous attacks, prayed for awarding of imprisonment to him. The NIA in its charge sheet claimed that Musa was planning to stab and kill foreigners, a style frequently chosen by ISIS to eliminate its targets, and had chosen Mother House, which is the headquarters of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity.

NIA said that it has proof of his having bought a big knife to commit the terror crimes. The charge sheet had alleged that Musa discussed plans for conducting such attacks at the Mother House, which is frequented by foreigners from the US, Russia, and the UK. He wanted them killed as the governments of their countries had bombarded ISIS in Syria and Libya, the charge sheet alleged.

A .38 bore six-chamber revolver, three rounds of ammunition, a knife, a mobile phone, and other incriminating articles were seized during Musa's arrest. Subsequently, a laptop and a sword were seized from his house at Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu. Musa, who had been questioned in a Kolkata prison by the FBI for his links with ISIS, is also accused of murderous attacks on jail staff on two occasions. He is accused of slashing the throat of a staffer of the Alipore Correctional Home with a knife in 2017. Again in 2020, he allegedly attacked another warder with a pipe at Presidency Correctional Home.