NIA arrests 2 for harbouring terrorists involved in civilian killings in J-K’s Rajouri

PTI, Sep 2, 2023, 8:52 PM IST

Representative image (source: PTI)

Jammu: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested two persons for allegedly harbouring terrorists who had killed seven innocent civilians in Dhangri village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district early this year.

Nisar Ahmed alias ‘Haji Nisar’ and Mushtaq Hussain, both of whom are presently lodged in Central Jail Kot Bhalwal (Jammu) in another case, were formally arrested by the NIA on Thursday, the central agency said in a statement here.

It said they were produced before the Special NIA Court, Jammu on Friday and were sent to NIA custody for 12 days.

Five persons were killed when terrorists fired indiscriminately on members of the minority community at Dhangri village on January 1.

Two more persons were killed and several others injured when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), which was left behind by the terrorists before fleeing the village, exploded.

During the course of investigations, the statement said, a team of NIA officials camped for quite some time in the hilly terrain of Rajouri, Poonch and Reasi districts of J-K and examined a large number of suspicious entities and later zeroed in on the two accused who had provided ”logistics support to the terrorists for more than two months”.

The case was initially registered at Police Station Rajouri under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Arms Act. NIA re-registered the case on January 13.

“They had provided logistics support to the terrorists for more than two months and had sheltered them in a hideout, constructed by them on the directions of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) handlers namely Saifullah alias Sajid Jutt, Abu Qatal alias Qatal Sindhi and Mohd Qasim,” the agency said.

Further investigations of the case continue to be under process, it said.