NIA court sentences six to jail term for planting 'pressure cooker IED' on rail track in Bihar

Patna: The NIA special court here on Saturday sentenced six persons to imprisonment and imposed fines upon them in a 2016 case related to planting of an improvised explosive device (IED) on a railway track near Ghorasahan railway station in Bihar, according to an official statement.

The range from 5 to 12 years of imprisonment, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said in the statement.

The accused were involved in "planting a pressure cooker IED" on the railway track on the night of September 30, in a bid to blast a passenger train coming from Narkatiaganj. However, it was spotted by local people and successfully defused, the release said.

During the investigation, the local police established the involvement of six persons -- Umashankar Raut alias Umashankar Patel alias Raju Patel, Gajendra Sharma alias Gajendra Thakur, Rakesh Kumar Yadav alias Rakesh, Mukesh Kumar Yadav alias Mukesh, Motilal Paswan alias Moti, and Ranjay Kumar Sah alias Ranjay, it said.

The NIA took over the probe in January 2017.

While three of the accused were arrested initially by the local police, two were nabbed later by the NIA on different occasions. The sixth accused surrendered in February 2017.

The chargesheet against all the accused was filed by NIA in July 2017.

This year, on September 24, the NIA court had held the accused guilty. The court on Saturday announced the quantum of the sentences against them, according to the statement.

The sentences pronounced by the court range from 5 to 12 years of imprisonment along with fine, and will run concurrently, with extension of three months imprisonment in case of non payment of the fine, it added.