The Jammu and Kashmir police arrested two terrorists in connection with the August 2 grenade attack in Ramban district, a senior officer privy to the investigation said on Saturday, adding that the case had revealed a plot to revive terrorism in the region.
The attack was targeted at the Ind police post and two personnel had suffered minor injuries in the blast.
Ramban’s senior superintendent of police, Mohita Sharma, identified the arrested duo as Shah Din Padyar and Mohammad Farooq, both residents of Gool area in the district.
“The Ramban district was already put on high alert in run up to Independence Day, and the sentry was alert due to which, a major attack was averted and the grenade exploded close to the barracks of jawans. Due to this explosion, two police personnel — Follower Lal Singh and SPO Shakeel Ahmed — sustained minor splinter injuries. The terrorists, taking advantage of the darkness, had fled from the spot,” Sharma said.
According to Sharma, an FIR was registered in connection with the attack at Gool police station under sections 307, 120-B, 121 of the Indian Penal Code and 4/5 of Explosives Act and a probe was launched.
Soon after the incident, security forces including the J&K police, army and CRPF launched a massive joint operation in Ind and adjoining areas of Gool in order to apprehend the terrorists responsible for the attack.
{{/usCountry}}Soon after the incident, security forces including the J&K police, army and CRPF launched a massive joint operation in Ind and adjoining areas of Gool in order to apprehend the terrorists responsible for the attack.
{{/usCountry}}SSP Sharma said a handwritten note was found near the police post which claimed that attack was carried out by J&K Ghaznavi Force (JKGF).
The SSP said investigations revealed that JKGF used to have a presence only in Rajouri and Poonch districts and in view of this, she contacted the Rajouri SSP for information on the outfit. It was learnt that Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Talib Hussain, who was arrested on July 4, had revealed that he had visited Gool in 2021 to pay a person.
“Acting on this lead, we zeroed in on a suspect Shah Din Padyar of Gool, who during sustained questioning confessed to the hatching of a criminal conspiracy to revive militancy in Ramban,” said SSP Sharma and added that he further disclosed the identity of his aide as Mohammad Farooq of Mahakund.
“They were given funds from JKGF and were in the process of recruiting the youth to revive militancy in Ramban. Shah Din and Mohammad Farooq confessed that the latter received cash of ₹50,000 from a person, whose identity is yet to be ascertained and who had assigned the task of attacking security forces establishment to them,” said the SSP.
“The bank statement of Shah Din Padyar was also obtained and perused which corroborated the facts revealed during his confession. It was also prima facie found during investigation that the handwritten letter claiming responsibility for the grenade attack was written by Shah Din Padyar. Moreover, we also recovered three SIM cards from Farooq. The electronic surveillance team is further working on technical inputs to establish further evidence,” said SSP Kumar.
Following confessions by Padyar and Farooq, sections 16, 17, 18, 18-B, 19, 20, 38 and 39 of the Unlawful (Activities) Prevention Act, 1967, were added to the case.
“More arrests are expected in the case after the identification of the person who were financing these two terrorists,” said the SSP.
Around 19 years ago, terrorists had attacked the same police post killing at least 11 policemen and two village defence committee (VDC) members.