New Delhi: More arrests are likely in the Pahalgam terror attack case as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) begins decrypting communication between the three terrorists involved and their handler in Pakistan.
According to an official, the NIA has recovered details of Aadhaar cards, Facebook accounts and photographs of several people from the mobile phones of three Pakistani terrorists. These are now being analysed to ascertain the role of others in the deadly massacre at the Baisaran Meadow on April 22 that left 26 people dead.
The communications between the three terrorists and their handler back in Pakistan is end-to-end encrypted. The decryption process has started. This may take up to 45 days after which the NIA will file a chargesheet.
The three terrorists, identified as Suleiman Shah, Hamza Afghani alias Afghan and Jibran were killed by security forces during an encounter in the Dachigam forest near Srinagar on July 28.
A day later, Union home minister Amit Shah had confirmed in Parliament that the terrorists were from Pakistan and belonged to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Two Pahalgam locals – Bashir Ahmad Jothar and Parvez Ahmad Jothar – were also arrested earlier in June for harbouring and assisting the terrorists.
After the encounter in Dachigam, security forces recovered two mobile phones, a satellite phone, an M4 carbine, two AK-47 rifles and Pakistani identity documents from the site. These were sent for forensic and digital analysis to identify the facilitators based in Pakistan, other LeT and The Resistance Front (TRF) secret operatives based in the Valley.
“The National Forensic Science University (NFSU), Gandhi Nagar, has recently shared the digital analysis report of three terrorists’ mobile phones, which reveals incriminating evidence against Bashir and Parvaiz Jothar and also certain Aadhaar cards, Facebook IDs and photographs, which are being further investigated,” an officer has been quoted by Hindustan Times as saying.
Further analysis of the phones and the communications with the handler will throw up more clues about involvement of other LeT/TRF operatives in the Pahalgam attack, this officer said.
The name of the handler in Pakistan will also be revealed once the decryption process is over. Pakistan’s role in cross-border terrorism will get further exposed once the identity of the handler is revealed.
The agency is also waiting for reports on devices seized by the Jammu and Kashmir Police in different anti-terror operations against TRF as these may provide vital clues to the Pahalgam attack and throw up more names.
