3 held for attack on eatery owner’s son in Srinagar
SRINAGAR: Three persons who were allegedly responsible for the attack on the son of a Srinagar-based restaurateur’s son on February 17 during the foreign envoy’s visit to the summer capital, were arrested here on Friday.
Police said the arrested persons — Suhail Ahamad Mir of Dangerpora Nowgam, Owais Manzoor Sofi of Dangarpora and Vilayat Aziz Mir son of Hanipora Wampora Pulwama — were affiliated with Muslim Jaanbaz Force, an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Inspector general of police Vijay Kumar said police had been hugely successful as they brought the perpetrators to the book within 48 hours. The accused were nabbed under the supervision of deputy inspector general of police, central Kashmir, Amit Kumar.
“On February 17, when the European delegation was on a visit, Pakistan-based terrorist organisation LeT in its cowardly attempt to disrupt the ongoing peaceful atmosphere in the Valley chose a soft target, the famous food outlet Krishna Dhaba and attacked its inmates to terrorise non locals and disrupt the tourist activity, which has seen an upsurge in the past two months. The food outlet is very famous and popular among tourists visiting the valley,” the police spokesman had said. Immediately after the attack, Srinagar police with the help of CCTV footage and technical assistance started working on certain leads and tied up with the district police Pulwama and district Police Anantnag. “On the basis of intelligence, many suspected spots were raided by the joint team of Srinagar and Pulwama police which led to arrest of Vilayat Aziz Mir, a resident of Hanipora Wampora Pulwama. Similarly, another joint team of Srinagar and Anantnag police various spots were raided in Anantnag district, which led to the arrest of Suhail Ahmad Mir, and Owais Manzoor Sofi, both residents of Dangerpora,” Kumar said.
He said it was learnt that Vilayat was in contact with one Gazi, an active terrorist and trained him locally. “He performed the recce of Dalgate Durganag area along with other terrorist associates 10 days before the attack. The trio, who were riding Suhail Ahmed Mir’s bike, reached Krishna Dhaba and started firing at the staff indiscriminately. Aakash Mehra was critically injured in the attack.” The police spokesperson said that the Pakistanbased terrorist organisation had adopted new strategies by recruiting local youngsters in their teens.