In a major breakthrough, Police on Friday claimed to have arrested five Jaish-i-Muhammad terrorists allegedly involved in the killing of labourer, Deepak Kumar of Udhampur, at Janglatmandi near Amusement Park Anantnag in south Kashmir 18 days ago.
Addressing a presser, DIG south Kashmir Rayees Mohammad Bhat (IPS) said that Police in Anantnag has made a significant breakthrough in the investigation of the heinous terror crime involving the killing of Udhampur labourer on May 29 and have successfully apprehended five terrorists of Kashmir Freedom Fighters (KFF), an offshoot of proscribed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) responsible for the brutal act.
“On the evening of 29th May, 2023 at around 2115hrs unknown terrorists borne on a scooty rode upto the amusement park near GMC Anantnag and with the assistance of their illegally procured arms/ ammunition, fired upon a non-local labourer namely Deepak Kumar@ Deepu son of Mashu resident of Thial, Panchayat Deot Bilaspur, Udhampur, causing serious and fatal injuries to him. He was shifted to GMC Anantnag where doctors declared him brought dead. Thereafter the terrorists fled from the spot”, he said.
Upon this information, a case FIR NO 171/2023 U/S 7, 27 Arms Act, 302 IPC, 16, 18, 20, 39 ULAP Act was registered and investigation was set into motion.
DIG Said that during the process of investigation, 05 terrorists were arrested who were associated with self-styled terror group Kashmir Freedom Fighters (KFF), an offshoot of proscribed terrorist outfit JeM and following recovery was made from them viz: 01 AK-47, 01 AK 47 Magazine, 40 rounds of AK 47, 02 Pistol, 02 Pistol Magazine, 7 Live rounds, 7 Empty Fired Cartridges, 3 Hand Grenades, 7 Mobile Phones, and Scooty bearing registration No. JK03M-0442 was also seized.
Five terrorists have been arrested so far. They have been identified as Sehran Bashir Nadaf son of Bashir Ahmad Nadaf resident of Shirpora Deva Colony, Ubaid Nazir Laigroo son of Nazir Ahmad Laigroo resident of Shirpora New Colony, Umer Amin Thoker son of Mohd Amin resident of Waghama, Huzaif Shabir Bhat son of Shabir Ahmad Bhat resident of Wachi Shopian and Nasir Farooq Shah son of Farooq Ahmad Shah resident of Wanteng Mohalla Bijbehara.
It is pertinent to mention here that the prime accused namely Sehran Bashir had been trained by a terrorist handler code @Khalid Kamran via WhatsApp video call regarding usage of weaponry. They had been instructed to find and attack minority community soft targets and instructed about mode of recce and other details.
The entire conspiracy of how weapons were sourced, passed on and routed to the actual trigger puller and how to maintain communication discipline as well as how to cover tracks and hide evidence has been uncovered. More leads are under investigation and some further developments in the case are expected.
