Father-daughter arrested in J&K

Attack planned in their house: NIA

National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday formally arrested a father-daughter duo from Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district for their alleged involvement in the February 14, 2019, terror attack in which more than 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed.

Tariq Ahmed Shah, a resident of Pulwama’s Hakripora village, and his 26-year-old daughter Insha Tariq, were arrested after the sensational revelation by an accused, Shakir Bashir Magray, that it was at Shah’s house that the Jaish-eMuhammad (JeM) operatives hatched the conspiracy to carry out the suicide attack.

Mr Shah and his daughter were taken to the area police station on Tuesday after the NIA, along with the J&K police and the CRPF, raided their house.

After they were questioned briefly and after the fulfilment of legal formalities at the police station, the father-daughter duo was handed over to the NIA for interrogation. Police sources said that Mr Shah and his daughter will be produced before a designated NIA court in Jammu to seek their remand.

Magray, 22, a furniture shop owner and resident of Hajibal village of Pulwama’s Kakapora area, was arrested by the NIA last week.

He is accused of providing shelter and other

‘Waqas Commando’, an alleged JeM cadre, who on February 14 last year, rammed an explosive laden Maruti Eeco into a bus that was part of a convoy of the CRPF at Lethapora in Pulwama district, killing and maiming security personnel on board. The NIA said that Magray was introduced to Adil Dar in mid 2018 by Pakistani militant Muhammad Umar Farooq after which he became a fulltime Over-Ground Worker (OGW) of the JeM. Magray was sent to 15 days NIA custody by a special NIA court in Jammu on Friday.

Sources said that during his interrogation Magray reportedly admitted that Adil Dar and Farooq had stayed at his house for several weeks before the terror attack took place.

As claimed by sources, Magray not only helped them in fabricating the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) used in the attack, but also conducted reconnaissance of the movement of CRPF convoys on Srinagar-Jammu highway in January 2019 for them.