Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday claimed to have arrested two persons for harbouring militants. According to the agency, these militants were responsible for the killing of five civilians in Dhangri village of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district in January this year.
NIA spokesperson, in a statement, said, "The duo, Nisar Ahmed alias Haji Nisar and Mushtaq Hussain, were formally arrested by the NIA on Thursday. They were produced before NIA Special Court, Jammu on Friday and were sent to 12 days NIA custody." "Incidentally, both the accused were currently lodged in Central Jail, Kot Bhalwal, Jammu in another case, registered at Gursai police station area in Poonch," the statement further reads.
Giving details of the case, the agency said, "On January 1, 2023, five persons were killed and others seriously injured in an attack by unknown militants. The case was initially registered at Rajouri police station, however, NIA had taken over and re-registered the case on January 13."
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The agency further said, "Investigations by the NIA revealed that both the arrested accused were involved in harbouring the militants who had carried out the killings of the civilians. They had provided logistics support to the militants for more than two months and had sheltered them in a hideout, which was constructed by the arrested accused on the directions of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) handlers namely Saifullah alias Sajid Jutt, Abu Qatal alias Qatal Sindhi and Mohd. Qasim."
"During the course of investigations of the case pertaining to the killing of innocent civilians at Dhangri in Rajouri district, a team of NIA officials camped for quite some time in the hilly terrain of Rajouri, Poonch, and Reasi districts of Jammu and Kashmir and examined a large number of suspicious entities and later zeroed in on the above mentioned accused persons who had provided the hideout." Meanwhile, the agency claimed that further investigations are underway.
