NEW DELHI: Two people have been detained by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for harbouring the terrorists who murdered five unarmed villagers in the Jammu and Kashmir region of Rajouri’s Dhangri hamlet in January of this year. The two suspects in the case (RC-01/2023/NIA/JMU), Nisar Ahmed @Haji Nisar and Mushtaq Hussain, were formally detained by the NIA on Thursday. They were taken into NIA custody for 12 days after being brought before the NIA Special Court in Jammu on Friday. Interestingly, both of the defendants were incarcerated at Central Jail in Kot Bhalwal, Jammu, for a different offence that was reported to Police Station Gursai, Mendhar, District Poonch.Five people were killed and several more suffered serious injuries in a terrorist incident on January 1st, 2023. The initial FIR number for the case was 01/2023, and it was filed at PS Rajouri under Sections 13/16/18 of the UA (P) Act of 1967, Sections 7/27 of the Arms Act, and Sections 302/307/120-B/452/323 of the IPC. On January 13, the NIA took control of the case and reregistered it. According to NIA investigations, both of the accused individuals who were detained were involved in harbouring the terrorists who had committed the terrible killings of civilians.They had been giving the terrorists logistical support for more than two months and had been giving them shelter in a hideout that had been built by the arrested suspects under the guidance of the Lashkar-e-Taiyaba (LeT)’s Pakistan-based handlers, Saifullah @ Sajid Jutt, Abu Qatal @ Qatal Sindhi, and Mohd. Qasim. A team of NIA officials camped in the hilly terrain of Rajouri, Poonch, and Reasi districts of J&K for a considerable amount of time during the course of investigations into the case involving the killing of innocent civilians at Dhangri, District Rajouri, and examined a large number of suspicious entities before focusing on the aforementioned accused individuals who had provided the hideout. Additional investigations into the situation are still being conducted.
