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Friday, August 7, 2015

NIA takes over investigation of Udhampur fidayeen attack 

Former Jammu SSP Atul Kumar Goel designated as Chief Investigating Officer
FIR being produced in NIA Special Court in Jammu on Friday

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
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SRINAGAR, Aug 6: In a significant development, Narendra Modi government at the Centre on Thursday assigned the investigation of Wednesday’s terrorist attack on a convoy of Border Security Force (BSF) in Jammu and Kashmir to the elite National Investigation Agency (NIA) which conducted several rounds of preliminary interrogation on the captured Pakistani militant Naveed alongwith senior officials of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and Central agencies.

Highly placed authoritative sources here disclosed to STATE TIMES that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, in coordination with the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, issued a formal order and hand over the investigation to NIA. Former SSP of Jammu Atul Kumar Goel, who is currently on deputation with NIA, has been designated as the Chief Investigating Officer and he would be producing the FIR in the NIA Special Court in Jammu on Friday.

Two of the NIA teams associated themselves with Naveed's sustained interrogation at Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC) Miran Sahab, near Jammu, earlier on Thursday.

While the first team, led by Dy SP Ajit Singh Salaria arrived in Jammu by Rajdhani Express in the forenoon, a high level team led by IGP S.K. Singh followed by a special aircraft in the afternoon. It included DIG Anil Shukla and SSP Atul Kumar Goel, who has proceeded on the Central deputation after serving as SSP Jammu.

Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police K. Rajendra Kumar, IGP CID Abdul Gani Mir, IGP Jammu Danish Rana besides senior officials from Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing and intelligence officials from Army and BSF were present during Naveed's preliminary interrogation.

Late in the afternoon, District Magistrate of Udhampur Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary granted sanction to the prosecution of the captured militant and others to be found involved in the attack on BSF convoy in which two personnel died and 12 others sustained injuries. DC Udhampur told STATE TIMES that issuing this order, following registration of FIR No: 60 of 2015 under various provisions of Ranbir Penal Code and waging of war against the country, had become necessary under Section 121 of RPC and Section 196 of Criminal Procedure Code. He, however, maintained that Police Station Udhampur would hold the investigation.

However, in the evening, Government of India, after daylong consultation with Government of Jammu and Kashmir, assigned the investigation to NIA with the argument that part of the investigation would have to be carried out in foreign countries, including Pakistan and USA, which was obviously beyond the resourcefulness of any State government agency.

For observers of the Kashmir insurgency, it was a clear indication of the Narendra Modi government's intention to take the investigation to its logical conclusion of Naveed's execution on the lines of the Mumbai terror attack of November 26, 2008. Lashkar-e-Tayyiba terrorist Ajmal Kasab was hanged to death in November 2012 for his participation in the terror attacks that left over 200 people dead in Mumbai.

DGP Rajendra did not respond to a call from this newspaper but sources insisted that he was "cogently averse" to the Centre's move of handing over the investigation to NIA. His contention was that J&K Police was not only legally competent but also experienced and resourceful enough to handle such type of an investigation. However, Mr Rajendra did not stick to his resistance when the MHA officials convinced the State Home Department that the investigation would involve technology, infrastructure and international coordination with foreign agencies, including Interpol, available only with NIA and CBI in India.

It was pointed out to Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s government that a "speaking evidence of Pakistan's involvement in terrorism in India" had been grabbed first time after Ajmal Kasab's arrest during the 2008 encounter in Mumbai. "It needs to be protected and to be followed assiduously so as to establish Pakistan's hand in the subversion in India", said an official. He revealed that the NIA investigators would complete the investigation in minimum possible time.

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