Srinagar: State Investigation Agency (SIA) has filed a chargesheet against over a dozen persons including a Pakistani national who is at large and three slain Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants in connection with the murder of a Brahmin Hindu or Kashmiri Pandit Sanjay Sharma in southern Pulwama district in February last year.
The motive behind Sharma’s killing was to “disrupt the revival of peace and communal harmony in the Valley, using the murder of an innocent person from the minority community to fuel communal disharmony and sustain terrorism,” the SIA said on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the J&K authorities have slapped Public Safety Act (PSA) against a resident of northwestern Baramulla district Nasir Ahmed Ganie after accusing him of being a “hardcore instigator” and involved in “disturbance of law and order and subversion”. The accused has been shifted to Jammu’s high-security Kot Balwal prison. The PSA is a stringent law under which a person can be detained without seeking formal trial for a period of three months to two years.
The SIA said that Sharma was brutally killed in Achhan village of Pulwama on February 26, 2023, and the subsequent investigation revealed a “broader conspiracy originating from across the border.” It said that the “vital physical and technical evidence” in the case exposed the accused persons' involvement in the crime, including providing logistical support, harbouring the accused, and concealing evidence.
“During the course of investigation, the SIA conducted five rounds of extensive searches at 32 Locations across the Valley, during which evidence in the shape of mobile devices, incriminating documents viz bank documents and one pistol magazine and live cartridges were seized,” the probe agency said.
The chargesheet has been filed before the Special Designated Court under the NIA Act in Pulwama against Jazim Farooq Wani alias Abrar, Khalid Kamran (a Pakistani national), Zaffar Hussain Bhat alias Khursheed Kashmiri, Nassir Farooq Shah, Aamir Hussain Wani, Shameem Ahmad Bhat alias Uncle, Towseef Ahmad Pandith, Sajjad Ahmad Bhat alias Afnan Bhat, Sarjeel Ahmad Bhat, Danish Ahmad Thokar, Ubaid Ahmad Paddar, and Sahil Bashir Dar. Three of them Jazim, Danish and Ubaid have since been killed in gunfights with the security forces whereas eight other accused including three juveniles are currently under judicial custody and Zaffar Bhat and Pakistani national Khalid Kamran are “absconding”.
The chargesheet says that the accused were acting on instructions from terror handlers across the border, maintaining communication via encrypted online messaging platforms. “Notably, Jazim Farooq Wani, who pulled the trigger, received weapon handling training from Nassir Farooq Shah on the directives of Pakistani handler Khalid Kamran,” it adds. End it
Murder of Kashmir Pandit: J&K probe agency files chargesheet against 12 accused
YUSUF JAMEEL
Srinagar: State Investigation Agency (SIA) has filed a chargesheet against over a dozen persons including a Pakistani national who is at large and three slain Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants in connection with the murder of a Brahmin Hindu or Kashmiri Pandit Sanjay Sharma in southern Pulwama district in February last year.
The motive behind Sharma’s killing was to “disrupt the revival of peace and communal harmony in the Valley, using the murder of an innocent person from the minority community to fuel communal disharmony and sustain terrorism,” the SIA said on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the J&K authorities have slapped Public Safety Act (PSA) against a resident of northwestern Baramulla district Nasir Ahmed Ganie after accusing him of being a “hardcore instigator” and involved in “disturbance of law and order and subversion”. The accused has been shifted to Jammu’s high-security Kot Balwal prison. The PSA is a stringent law under which a person can be detained without seeking formal trial for a period of three months to two years.
The SIA said that Sharma was brutally killed in Achhan village of Pulwama on February 26, 2023, and the subsequent investigation revealed a “broader conspiracy originating from across the border.” It said that the “vital physical and technical evidence” in the case exposed the accused persons' involvement in the crime, including providing logistical support, harbouring the accused, and concealing evidence.
“During the course of investigation, the SIA conducted five rounds of extensive searches at 32 Locations across the Valley, during which evidence in the shape of mobile devices, incriminating documents viz bank documents and one pistol magazine and live cartridges were seized,” the probe agency said.
The chargesheet has been filed before the Special Designated Court under the NIA Act in Pulwama against Jazim Farooq Wani alias Abrar, Khalid Kamran (a Pakistani national), Zaffar Hussain Bhat alias Khursheed Kashmiri, Nassir Farooq Shah, Aamir Hussain Wani, Shameem Ahmad Bhat alias Uncle, Towseef Ahmad Pandith, Sajjad Ahmad Bhat alias Afnan Bhat, Sarjeel Ahmad Bhat, Danish Ahmad Thokar, Ubaid Ahmad Paddar, and Sahil Bashir Dar. Three of them Jazim, Danish and Ubaid have since been killed in gunfights with the security forces whereas eight other accused including three juveniles are currently under judicial custody and Zaffar Bhat and Pakistani national Khalid Kamran are “absconding”.
The chargesheet says that the accused were acting on instructions from terror handlers across the border, maintaining communication via encrypted online messaging platforms. “Notably, Jazim Farooq Wani, who pulled the trigger, received weapon handling training from Nassir Farooq Shah on the directives of Pakistani handler Khalid Kamran,” it adds. End it
