The National Investigation Agency (NIA), along with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has brought back Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Salman Khan, involved in the radicalisation and recruitment conspiracy in Bengaluru prisons, from Rwanda, the agencies said on Thursday.

“Part of a terror radicalisation and recruitment case of Bengaluru Central prison, Salman was taken into custody by the NIA, with assistance of the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB), Interpol and National Central Bureaus (NCBs), on November 27 and brought to India this morning,” the NIA said in a statement.

Khan is the 17th terror accused to be extradited or deported in major NIA cases since 2020, the agency said.

“The CBI on request of the NIA had got a red notice issued against Salman Khan from Interpol on August 2, 2024. It was circulated to all law enforcement agencies globally for tracking of the wanted criminal,” the CBI said in a statement.

Khan was traced to Rwanda where the CBI sought assistance from Interpol’s NCB in Kigali, the capital and largest city of Rwanda.

The Bengaluru prisons radicalisation conspiracy case was registered in October 2023 by the federal anti-terror probe agency, wherein T Naseer, a life imprisonment convict and LeT terrorist, allegedly radicalised several individuals inside the central prison, instigating them to carry out terror attacks in the country.

The Bengaluru City Police had originally registered the case following the seizure of arms and ammunition, including 7 pistols, 4 hand grenades, one magazine and 45 live rounds, along with 4 walkie-talkies in July 2023.

Salman Khan, according to the NIA, was previously imprisoned in Bengaluru in a POCSO case from 2018-2022. “He had facilitated the collection and distribution of explosives for other terror accused after being radicalised and recruited during his incarceration by T Naseer,” the NIA said on Thursday.

Apart from orchestrating radicalisations, Naseer had also planned his escape en route to the court from the prison.

The agency said Salman Khan fled the country after the terror conspiracy was unearthed. He was declared a fugitive and was subsequently charge sheeted under the earlier Indian Penal Code and the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

Apart from Khan, the CBI has also coordinated return of two other suspects recently in separate cases from Saudi Arabia.

Barkat Ali Khan, who had an Interpol Red Notice, was wanted in a 2012 case of rioting and use of explosive substances. He was brought back from Saudi Arabia on November 14. Raihan Arabikkalalarikkal, who also had an Interpol red notice against him and was wanted by the police in Kerala’s Pattambi for rape and sexual offences against a minor, was brought from Saudi Arabia on November 10.

The CBI, just as the NCB for Interpol, coordinates closely with all law enforcement agencies in India for cooperation over Interpol channels.

Since 2021, as many as 100 wanted criminals, including 26 this year, have been returned to India through coordination via Interpol channels, the CBI said on Thursday.