NIA frames charges against activist Parvez, ex-cop Negi in terror case

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a charge sheet against Kashmir-based rights activist Khurram Parvez and its own decorated former officer, superintendent of police Arvind Digvijay Negi, in a probe related to funding and recruitment of overground workers (OGWS) by the Lashkar-etaiba (LET) in Jammu & Kashmir.

Negi has been charged under the stringent Official Secrets Act (OSA), along with corruption and criminal conspiracy, for allegedly leaking secret documents to the terrorists and their supporters in exchange for money, apart from demanding payouts to influence the investigation, the agency said.

OSA is a British-era anti-espionage act which deals with spying and sharing of sensitive information. A person convicted under this law can get up to 14 years of imprisonment.

An officer from the Himachal Pradesh cadre, Negi spent 11 years in NIA after its inception in the wake of 26/11 Mumbai attacks, and probed major cases including J&K terror funding involving Hurriyat leaders, and alleged Hindutva terror. He was promoted to the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 2011, and received the President’s medal in 2017 for his exemplary probe in the J&K terror funding case. A charge sheet filed by him had brought out the role of Pakistan and its spy agency ISI’S in radicalising youth in the Valley for anti-india activities, including stone pelting and dharnas, for which funding was allegedly received by Hurriyat leaders. He was also part of the probe team that carried out searches on the premises of Khurram Parvez in October 2020.

The NIA registered the case on November 6, 2021 pertaining to the spread of a widespread network of OGWS of LET, and for providing support in planning and execution of terrorist activities in India. Negi was arrested in February this year. Among those against whom charge sheets were filed on Friday include Parvez, Negi, Muneer Ahmad Kataria, Arshid Ahmad Tonch, Zafar Abbas, Rambhawan Prasad, and Chandan Mahato.

“Investigation revealed that LET operatives based in Pakistan hatched a conspiracy with Parvez, Kataria, Tonch and Abbas to run a network of OGWS of LET for furthering the activities of the outfit and to commit terrorist acts in India…,” NIA said on Friday.

A CASE PERTAINING TO THE SPREAD OF A WIDESPREAD NETWORK OF LET OGWS WAS FILED BY THE NIA IN 2021