A day after the arrest of father-daughter duo, allegedly involved on February 14, 2019 Lethpora suicide attack, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested father-son duo during fresh raids in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
The NIA sleuths accompanied by local police and paramilitary CRPF raided Kasabayar village in Pulwama, 30 kms from here, and arrested Abdul Gani Bhat and his son Muntazir Bhat, sources told DH. The central probe agency sleuths also seized three mobile phones and some documents.
“The father-son duo is accused of being involved in February 14 Lethpora attack and terror funding cases,” they revealed.
The fresh raids were carried out a day after the NIA arrested Tariq Ahmad Shah and his daughter Insha Jan for their alleged involvement in Lethpora attack. 40 CRPF personnel, travelling in a convoy were killed on 14 February 2019 when Adil Ahmad Dar rammed a car loaded with explosives into the paramilitary bus at around 3.15 pm at Lethpora in Pulwama.
The central probe agency said that Shah, a tipper driver and his daughter Insha, a college pass out hailing from Hakripora village of Pulwama provided shelter to the militants involved in planning and executing the deadly attack.
A special court in Jammu had granted 10-days police remand of the duo to the NIA. “During the initial interrogation, accused Shah has disclosed that his house was used by Adil Dar, the suicide bomber who blew himself up by ramming his explosive-laden car in the CRPF convoy,” NIA spokesman said.
“The house was also used by Muhammad Umar Farooq, a slain Pakistani militant known for making IEDs, Kamran – another slain Pakistani militant, Sameer Ahmed Dar, a JeM militant from Pulwama, and Muhammad Ismail, a Pakistani militant,” he said and revealed that Shah’s house was also used by these militants for recording the video of Adil Dar, released by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit soon after the attack.
The NIA has accused Insha of facilitating the militants at their home and providing food and other logistics during their stay on more than 15 occasions for two to four days each time, in their house during 2018, 2019.
Sources said the arrest of father-daughter and father-son-duo was made on the revelations made by 22-year-old Shakir Bashir Magrey, who was held by the anti-terror probe agency on February 28. Magrey, a resident of Hajibal, Kakapora in Pulwama, is an overground worker (OGW) of the JeM.