NIA Chargesheets Seven in Pahalgam Terror Attack, Exposes ‘Pakistan-Backed LeT Conspiracy’
The NIA's nearly eight-month investigation in case RC-02/2025/NIA/JMU relied on scientific methods, forensic analysis, decoded communications, and witness statements to trace the conspiracy directly to Pakistan's “persistent sponsorship of cross-border terrorism”: Reports
SRINAGAR: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday filed a detailed 1,597-page chargesheet against seven accused in the horrific Pahalgam terror attack of April 22 which claimed the lives of 26 civilians—primarily Hindu tourists and including one local pony operator—in a targeted assault at Baisaran valley meadow.
Submitted before the NIA Special Court in Jammu, the chargesheet exposes a deep-rooted conspiracy orchestrated from Pakistan, explicitly naming the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its proxy, The Resistance Front (TRF), as legal entities responsible for planning, facilitating, and executing the religion-based killings, officials said.
Key accused include Pakistani handler Sajid Jatt, a senior LeT operative. The document also charges three Pakistani terrorists neutralised by security forces in July during ‘Operation Mahadev’ in the Dachigam-Harwan forest near Srinagar including Suleman Shah alias Faisal Jatt (an 'A' category LeT commander), Habeeb Tahir alias Jibran, and Hamza Afghani.
LeT, TRF, and the four Pakistani terrorists face charges under stringent sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023, Arms Act 1959, and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, including provisions for waging war against India.
Two local overground workers—Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar and Bashir Ahmad Jothar from Pahalgam’s Batakote area—arrested on June 22 for harbouring the terrorists the night before the attack, have also been chargesheeted. Interrogations revealed they provided shelter, food, and logistical support at a seasonal hut in Hill Park, Pahalgam, and confirmed the attackers' Pakistani nationality and LeT links, the NIA said. Forensic evidence, including blood samples and hair strands from the deceased terrorists, further corroborates their involvement, it added.
The NIA's nearly eight-month investigation in case RC-02/2025/NIA/JMU relied on scientific methods, forensic analysis, decoded communications, and witness statements to trace the conspiracy directly to Pakistan's “persistent sponsorship of cross-border terrorism”
The April 22 attack, one of the deadliest on civilians in Jammu and Kashmir in recent years, triggered nationwide outrage and prompted India's precision strikes under Operation Sindoor on May 7-8, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK).
While the charge sheet represents a major step towards justice, the NIA has indicated that further probes continue to dismantle remaining networks and identify additional accomplices.
“This development reinforces India's unwavering commitment to combating terrorism and holding perpetrators accountable, ensuring such atrocities are neither forgotten nor repeated,” an official said.