Balasore: In a significant development, a team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) visited the house of Prasant Kumar Satpathy, who was among 26 tourists killed in Pahalgam terror attack, in Odisha’s Balasore district as part of the investigation into the barbaric incident.
After reaching the victim’s house at Ishani village in the district, the three-member NIA team is set to question Prasant’s wife and son, who are the eyewitnesses in the terror attack.
The visit of the team is part of the ongoing exercise to gather evidence for the investigation into the massacre being led by the Jammu and Kashmir police.
Sources said the NIA team will be conducting a detailed inquiry with Prashant’s wife, Priyadarshini, to gather crucial information related to the incident. The questioning is expected to shed light on the circumstances that led to the attack, as investigators attempt to piece together the events that resulted in the tragic loss of lives.
Prasant, who was working with the CIPET in Balasore, had travelled to Jammu and Kashmir with his wife and son on April 19 on a vacation. A group of terrorists shot him in his head while the family was enjoying the vacation at Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam on April 22. His wife and son narrowly survived the attack which claimed the lives of 26 people.
Officials from the NIA stated that questioning family members and close associates of the victims is a necessary step in gaining further clarity on any potential threats, communications, or unusual activities that may have occurred prior to the attack.
Prasant’s wife, who is shattered after losing her husband, is expected to provide key insights that may assist investigators in understanding the broader context of the incident. She was stated to have been questioned extensively by the investigating officers about the attack.
