JAMMU: A juvenile was detained by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday for allegedly providing shelter to terrorists who killed five civilians in January of last year in Dhangri village, Rajouri district, Jammu & Kashmir. According to the NIA, the minor/CCL was unintentionally sent to Observation Home, RS Pura, Jammu, in a different case and was thereafter registered at Gursai Police Station, Mendhar, District Poonch. He was detained by the NIA yesterday and brought before the Rajouri Juvenile Justice Board for confinement. “On January 1, 2023, the aforementioned terrorist incident occurred, leaving five members of the minority Hindu community dead and numerous others gravely injured. On January 13, the NIA took control of the case and re-registered it,” they continued. The NIA’s investigations had shown that the juvenile who had been detained had been involved in providing shelter to the terrorists who had carried out the horrific attack, together with two other previously arrested individuals, Nisar Ahmed, also known as Haji Nisar, and Mushtaq Hussain, also known as Chacha. “Nisar Ahmed and Mushtaq Hussain were arrested by the NIA on August 31, 2023, and are presently lodged at Central Jail, Kot Bhalwal, Jammu,” they stated. According to the NIA, the two had been giving the terrorists logistical support for over two months, and they had given them shelter in a hideout that they had built on the orders of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) handlers in Pakistan, Saifullah alias Sajid Jutt, Abu Qatal alias Qatal Sindhi, and Mohd Qasim. During the course of investigations, a team of NIA officials had frequently set up camp in the steep areas of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri, Poonch, and Reasi districts in an effort to find the real offenders of the crime. After looking into a lot of questionable entities, the team focused on the aforementioned accused individuals who had given the terrorists logistical support. Investigations are still being conducted further.
