Hindustan Times (Lucknow)

NIA revisits encounter spot to collect evidences

- HT Correspond­ent lkoreporte­rsdesk@hindustant­imes.com

The National Investigat­ion Agency (NIA) on Friday continued their search operations at the house in Haji Colony near Kakori, where terror suspect Saifullah Khan was killed in an encounter recently. The sleuths collected several evidences and samples to establish Saifullah and his associates’ stay in the room.

A team led by two senior officers of NIA – Anil Shukla, IG and Prashant Kumar, DIG searched the entire house.

They were accompanie­d by Asim Arun, IG, UP ATS and his team. Sources with the NIA said samples of the comb, fallen hair and nails, towel, clothes and other belongings of Saifullah Khan and his associates were collected.

On Day I of the search operation, sleuths had collected a small packet of bullets, samples of blood and gunpowder.

They said the search also aimed at establishi­ng the presence of huge cache of arms and ammunition­s with Saifullah – the alleged operations head of UP-based self-radicalise­d ISIS module, who was gunned down in an encounter with UP ATS on March 8.

The team also collected belongings of Saifullah’s other accomplice­s, Atif Muzaffar, Meer Hasan, Danish and Gaus Mohammed, who stayed there or used to visit the place frequently. Atif and Hasan were arrested from MP while Danish and Gaus were arrested from Kanpur and Lucknow respective­ly in the wake of Ujjain-Bhopal train blast in MP on March 7.

So far, eight alleged militants have been arrested from different places.

Saifullah was killed in a 13-hour police operation when he locked himself in a room of the house where he was living for 46 days. Police had claimed that the suspected militant’s body was found with weapons lying next to him.

Besides, the ATS had claimed to have recovered eight pistols, 630 live cartridges and a huge amount of raw material used in making pressure pipe bombs.

THE SLEUTHS SAID THE SEARCH WAS ALSO AIMED AT ESTABLISHI­NG THAT SAIFULLAH HAD A HUGE CACHE OF ARMS AND AMMUNITION

 ?? HT PHOTO ?? NIA team at Saifullah’s house in Haji colony near Kakori on Thursday.
HT PHOTO NIA team at Saifullah’s house in Haji colony near Kakori on Thursday.

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