Bunty Mahajan
Jammu: A decorated ex-soldier and a daily wager in Jal Shakti Department employee were among nearly half a dozen people whose residential premises were on Tuesday searched by the NIA across Jammu and Kashmir for alleged terror links.
Sources identified the ex-soldier as Talib Naik of Masjid Mohalla in Kishtwar and the Jal Shakti daily wager as Ghulam Mohammad Dar of Dithan Tandar in Gundna tehsil of Doda district. The former, a recipient of Sena Medal, had retired in March this year.
However, a few days later, he had paralysis following head injury in a fall at home. Since April, he has been hospitalized at Udhampur for treatment, one of his relative said.
The NIA officials searched his belongings at his house left after sometime. However, during searches, they found an Army knife which, according to a cousin of the former soldier, Talib could not deposit back following his hospitalization a few days after his retirement.
NIA also searched the residential premises of a PHE daily wager Ghulam Mohammad Dar of Dithan Tandar in Doda district’s Gundna tehsil. Sources said that NIA officials reportedly asked about Dar’s son who, however, has been working in Ladakh as labourer.
In Kashmir also, NIA conducted multiple searches in Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla. Those whose residences were searched included a cattle trader and an elected Panch Ghulam Mohammad Padder of Bamnu Sadiwar, and Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Wani, a class IV employee of Sericulture Department.
During searches, many digital devices and other incriminating material were recovered from the premises of suspects,” the agency said. The spokesperson said that the case was initially registered at the Bahu Fort police station in Jammu following recovery of five kgs of improvised explosive device (IED) from a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist in the Bathindi area of Jammu on June 27.
“The conspiracy by the LeT was aimed at causing an explosion in Jammu using the IED. The NIA had re-registered the case on July 19 and had earlier arrested three persons in this case,” the spokesperson said. He said investigation revealed that Pakistan-based handlers of the proscribed terror outfit, LeT, and their associates based in Jammu and Kashmir are planning terrorist activities the Union Territory using The Resistance Front (TRF) so as to maintain plausible deniability and evade law enforcement agencies. Further investigation in the case continues, an NIA spokesperson said.