UP Hindu is caught as LeT terrorist in Kashmir

Sandeep accompanied LeT terrorists in 3 actions, including recent killing of 6 cops

The Jammu and Kashmir police on Monday claimed it arrested a Hindu man from Uttar Pradesh who had joined Lashkar-eTayyaba in attacking the Army, looting ATMs and concealing arms snatched from the security forces.

Sandeep Kumar Sharma alias Adil was also involved in the killing of six policemen, including station house officer Feroz Ahmed Dar, in Anantnag’s Acchabal area on June 16, IGP (Kashmir range) Munir Ahmed Khan said in Srinagar on Monday.

Sharma and his associate Muneeb Shah from Kulgam district carried out robberies before joining the Lashkar-eTayyaba group that was led by Bashir Ahmed Wani.

Meanwhile, the Army said that two militants were killed by it in the Nowgam sector along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara district on Sunday night.

The Jammu and Kashmir police on Monday claimed busting a Lashkar-eTayyaba (LeT) module involved in a series of “sensational crimes”, including terror acts in southern parts of the Kashmir Valley. Implausibly, one of the two accused arrested by it is a Hindu from Uttar Pradesh.

Inspector-general of police (Kashmir range) Munir Ahmed Khan termed it “a major breakthrough” and said that module was busted after “strenuous efforts” put in by the police in Anantnag district. He identified the duo as Sandeep Kumar Sharma, alias Adil, a resident of UP, and Muneeb Shah of Kulgam district of the Valley.

He said that complicity of Mr Sharma has been found in the June 3, 2017 attack on an Army convoy at Lower Munda, Qazigund along SrinagarJammu highway, weapon

snatching incident at the guard post at the residence of a J&K high court judge at Anchidoora in Anantnag on June 13 and the ambush on a police vehicle in the district’s Acchabal area on June 16 in which six cops, including SHO Feroz Ahmed Dar were killed. “Besides, he has been involved in cash looting incidents at ATMs in south Kasshmir,” the IGP said.

“In pursuance of the said criminal conspiracy which started in January 2017, Mr Sharma and some of his Valley-based associates came to Kashmir from Patiala (Punjab) for carrying out criminal activities,” Mr Khan said. He added, “Consequently, the group stayed at Wanpoh (Anantnag) and soon got involved in different kind of robberies, including ATM looting in South Kashmir. In these crimes, they worked in conjunction with LeT in South Kashmir”.

During investigations, it was revealed that Mr Sharma, along with some other persons, “hatched a criminal conspiracy leading to providing shelter, ferrying of terrorists from one place to other for terror strikes and actively participating in terrorist activities”.

“On directions of LeT, Mr Sharma and his associates received terrorists and dropped them at different sites. He also concealed weapons looted from the police guards in a vehicle and shifted them to different locations,” he said.

In a related development, the UP police has detained the sister-in-law of Sandeep. She was picked up from the Ankit Vihar Colony in Lucknow and is being interrogated.

The UP resident was involved in an attack on a police party in Achabal in south Kashmir on June 16 in which SHO Feroz Ahmed Dar and five other policemen were killed