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NIA apprehends juvenile in Dhangri terror attack case
The Dhangri terror attack took place on January 1, 2023, in which five people belonging to the Hindu community, were killed and several others seriously injured
New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has apprehended a juvenile for allegedly harbouring terrorists involved in the killing of five civilians in Dhangri village of district Rajouri of Jammu and Kashmir in January last year, the agency said on Sunday.
According to a statement issued by the NIA, the child in conflict with the law was incidentally lodged at the Observation Home in R S Pura, Jammu, in another case registered at the Gursai police station area in Mendhar, Poonch. He was taken into custody by the NIA on Saturday and produced before the Juvenile Justice Board, Rajouri, for remand.
The Dhangri terror attack took place on January 1, 2023, in which five people belonging to the Hindu community, were killed and several others seriously injured.
The federal agency had taken over the probe 12 days later after the incident.
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“Investigations by the NIA had revealed that the apprehended juvenile, along with two other earlier arrested persons, namely Nisar Ahmed alias Haji Nisar and Mushtaq Hussain alias Chacha, was involved in harbouring the terrorists who had carried out the horrendous attack,” NIA statement said.
Nisar Ahmed and Mushtaq Hussain were arrested by the NIA on August 31, 2023, and are presently lodged at Central Jail, Kot Bhalwal, Jammu.
“The duo had provided logistic support to the terrorists for more than two months and had sheltered them in a hideout which they had constructed on the directions of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) handlers, namely Saifullah alias Sajid Jutt, Abu Qatal alias Qatal Sindhi and Mohammad Qasim,” the NIA said.
A team of NIA officials had regularly camped in the hilly terrain of Rajouri, Poonch and Reasi districts of Jammu and Kashmir in search of actual perpetrators of the offence during the course of investigations. “The team examined a large number of suspicious entities and later zeroed in on the above-mentioned accused persons who had provided logistic support to the terrorists,” the agency said.
Terrorist attacks in the Jammu region have become a cause of concern for security agencies in the past couple of years, as Pakistan-based outfits have changed their tactics by targeting security forces and civilians in this part of the Union Territory instead of the Kashmir Valley.
After the Dhangri attack, the Centre even revived the village defence guards or VDGs in Jammu and Kashmir to counter any terror attack in their areas.
The VDGs comprise local village volunteers. They were first active in the 1990s in several districts and played a significant role in self-defence, assisting forces in counter-terrorism operations and maintaining vigil in respective border villages. They remained inactive for several years thereafter.
