Rajouri: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a juvenile on Saturday for allegedly harbouring militants involved in the Dhangri attack that killed five civilians in Rajouri last year.
In a statement, NIA said that a juvenile was lodged at Observation Home in Jammu in another case, registered at Police Station Gursai.
“He was taken into custody yesterday by the NIA and produced before the Juvenile Justice Board, Rajouri, for remand,” reads the statement.
It reads that the attack had taken place on 1st January, 2023, and five persons belonging to the minority Hindu community were killed and several seriously injured.
It added that the investigation by the NIA had revealed that the juvenile, along with two other persons namely Nisar Ahmed @ Haji Nisar and Mushtaq Hussain @ Chacha, was involved in harbouring the militants who had carried out the horrendous attack.
“Nisar Ahmed and Mushtaq Hussain were arrested by the NIA on 31st August 2023, and are presently lodged at Central Jail, Kot Bhalwal, Jammu.”
It reads that the duo had provided logistic support to the militants for more than two months and had sheltered them in a hideout which they constructed on the directions of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) handlers, namely Saifullah @ Sajid Jutt, Abu Qatal @ Qatal Sindhi and Mohd. Qasim.
“A team of NIA officials regularly camped in the hilly terrain of Rajouri, Poonch and Reasi districts of J & K in search of actual perpetrators of the offence during the course of investigations. The team examined a large number of suspicious entities and later zeroed in on the above-mentioned accused persons who had provided logistic support. Investigations in the case are still under process,” the statement reads.
(KNO)
