Srinagar, June 06: In a major breakthrough, Police on Friday claimed to have arrested five Jaish-i-Muhammad terrorists allegedly involved in the killing of a circus worker Deepu alias Deepak Kumar of Udhampur, at Janglatmandi near Amusement Park Anantnag in south Kashmir recently.
Addressing a presser, Deputy Inspector General (DIG), South Kashmir, Rayees Mohammad Bhat (IPS) said that on the evening of May 29 at around 9:15 pm unknown terrorists borne on a scooty rode up to the amusement park near GMC Anantnag and with the assistance of their illegally procured arms fired upon a non-local labourer.
He said the apprehended terrorists were associated with Kashmir Freedom Fighters (KFF), an offshoot of proscribed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
Briefing about the details, DIG Bhat said “In the incident, Deepak Kumar alias Deepu, a resident of Thial, Panchayat Deot Bilaspur, Udhampur, received serious injuries. He was rushed to GMC Anantnag where doctors declared him dead. In the meantime, the terrorists had fled from the spot.”
DIG Bhat said following the incident, a case under Arms Act and ULAP Act was registered and investigation started.
DIG said a case under relevant sections of law was registered and investigations started during which a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted on May 30.
“The investigations were held with the help of all possible technical, human and scientific evidence collected to nab the involved culprits,’’ he said.
He said two persons among the arrested terrorists were reported missing. “The disappearance of these two persons situated in close proximity to the incident spot was also considered by the investigation team,” DIG said.
He said the technical and human data was analysed which led to reconstructing the sequence of events.
“Meanwhile, police on June 6, at about 10.30 pm apprehended two suspect persons during checking at Semthan-Tulkhan Crossing. Their disclosure led to a major breakthrough in the case and the accused persons involved in the commission of the crime were identified,” the DIG said, added their disclosure coupled with the scientific and technical data analysis led to the recoveries of arms ammunition and the vehicle used in the commission of act”.
He said incriminating materials which included one AK-47, 01 AK 47 Magazine, 40 rounds of AK 47, two pistol, two pistol magazine, 7 live rounds, 7 empty fired cartridges, 3 hand grenades, 7 mobile phones, and scooty was recovered and seized and five terrorists associated with self-styled terror group KFF, an offshoot of proscribed terrorist outfit JeM were also arrested.
He said terrorists have been identified as Sehran Bashir Nadaf a resident of Shirpora Deva Colony, Ubaid Nazir Laigroo, a resident of Shirpora New Colony, Umer Amin Thoker , a resident of Waghama, Huzaif Shabir Bhat, resident of Wachi Shopian and Nasir Farooq Shah, a resident of Wanteng Mohalla Bijbehara.
DIG Bhat further said 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, he said.
He further said 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.
“The arrest of these terrorists and the recoveries made from them, Anantnag Police solved a prime case of terror attack and have succeeded in averting major attacks which these terrorists had been tasked to carry out by their handler across the border,” he said.
“More leads are under investigation and some further developments in the case are expected,” DIG Bhat said.
Deepu, who was shot dead by terrorists in Anantnag on May 29, was the sole breadwinner in his family, said his brother. Deepu, who was working in a circus, is survived by his father – who is visually impaired – and his sibling who too has had eyesight issues for the last four years.
The incident was one of the several targeted killings Jammu and Kashmir witnessed in the recent past.
