NIA attaches properties of three men for terror activities in J-K

PTI, May 10, 2023, 5:46 PM IST

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday attached the properties of three persons for their alleged involvement in militancy-related activities in the Kashmir Valley, officials said.

The central agency has stepped up its vigil against terrorist outfits, their affiliates, agents and over-ground workers (OGWs) by conducting raids on properties of terror suspects and accused across locations in Kashmir, they said The NIA attached the immovable properties of three accused in two different cases of terror activities involving members or cadres of proscribed terrorist organisations like Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), among others.

In the first case, immovable properties of two accused — Doulat Ali Mugal and Ishaq Pala — were attached in Herman in Shopian district under the UA(P)A Act, the NIA said.

While Pala, currently lodged in central jail Agra, was a terrorist of HM/Al-Badr organisation, Mugal was an overground worker of the proscribed HM and is currently out on bail, it said.

The NIA said Pala, while in central jail Srinagar, had conspired with his co-accused, including Riyaz Naikoo — the HM commander killed in an encounter with security forces in May 2020 — and Mugal, and assisted Danish Ghulam Lone and Suhail Ahmad Bhat to cross the border from Kupwara sector to join terror ranks and wage a war against the state.

Mugal had provided logistic support to accused Lone and Bhat at Kupwara when both were about to cross the LoC, it said.

The duo was chargesheeted by the NIA on February 22, 2019 and charges were framed by NIA Special Court Jammu on August 6, 2019.

The properties attached on the orders of NIA Special Court include land measuring 5.5 marlas and 3.5 marla, one double-storey house of Mugal located at Manigah village in Kupwara, and immoveable property in the form of two rooms under the ownership of Pala at Allora village in Shopian, the NIA said.

The agency said it had launched investigations into the case in February 2018 and had busted a HM module of OGWs/terrorists.

Others arrested and chargesheeted in the case were Danish Ghulam Lone, Suhail Ahmad Bhat, Feeroz Ahmad Lone, while key conspirator Reyaz Ahmad Naikoo, a top terrorist of the Hizbul Mujahideen, was killed in an encounter with the security forces, the NIA said.

In the second case, the agency attached the immovable property of accused Fayaz Ahmad Magray, an OGW of JeM and currently lodged in district jail Jhajjar, Haryana.

The property consisted of six shops constructed over land measuring 5.5 marlas at Lethpora, Pulwama, the NIA said.

Magray was chargesheeted on August 1, 2018 for conspiring, along with local/Pakistani terrorists of JeM, to execute a fidayeen attack on CRPF Group Centre Lethpora, Pulwama. He carried out a recce of the CRPF centre and provided logistic support to JeM terrorists before and after the attack, it said.

During the attack, two terrorists Fardeen Ahmad Khandey and Manzoor Ahmad Baba, along with one Pakistani Abdul Shakoor, were killed inside the CRPF Group Centre Lethpora. Other key conspirator terrorists, namely Mudassir Khan and Sajjad alias Mufti Waqas (Pakistani), were killed in subsequent encounters, the agency said.

The NIA launched investigations in February 2018 into the criminal conspiracy to commit acts of terror and violence in Kashmir.

The investigations led to the busting of a module of OGWs of JeM. Besides Magray, other accused arrested in the case were identified as Nissar Ahmad Tantray, Syed Hilal Andrabi and Irshad Ahmad Reshi, the agency said, adding all of them were subsequently chargesheeted.