Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 3: Special Judge NIA Sunit Gupta has framed charges against two LeT militants namely Khalil Ahmed Kayani and Mohd Nazeem of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Arms Act and Egress and Internal Movement (Control) Ordinance.
According to the NIA case, on August 21, 2019, the troops of Himmat Battalian deployed in Gulmarg Sector were tasked to carry out area domination along the Line of Control. During the task, they noticed two Pakistani nationals moving suspiciously near Nilkanth Nallah, about 700 meters towards the Indian side of LoC. Both the persons were apprehended by the Army and during investigation it came to the fore that had crossed the LoC with the support of Pakistan Army/ISI and had dropped the weapons at a place in forest area.
After the search of the area by the Army, some arms, ammunitions pouches, medicines and eatable items were recovered. Both of the apprehended persons further revealed that they had kept some war like stores along with Nilkanth Nallah. The area was searched by the Army and accordingly 12 grenades, IED material including explosives and detonators were recovered.
Initially, the case was registered at Gulmarg Police Station but on the directions of the Ministry of Home Affairs the same was assigned to National Investigating Agency (NIA).
During investigation by NIA, it came to the fore that both the accused persons were in contact of handlers of LeT namely Nadeem based at Kacharban (PoK) and the Pakistani army personnel deployed at a Pakistani army post , old Batalan in PoK.
After hearing both the sides, Special Judge NIA Court observed, “as far as the offences under Sections 13/18/20/23/39 of UA(P) Act are concerned, it is prima facie proved that the accused persons Khalil Ahmed Kayani and Mohd Nazeem were associated with the Pak handlers of Lashkar-e-Toiba namely Nadeem based at Kacharban (PoK) and the Pakistani army personnel deployed at Pakistani army post, old Batalan”.
“Though the accused persons are not prima facie proved to be the active members of the terrorists organization—LeT or any other organization as such, the offence under Section 20 of UA(P) Act cannot be attributed to them, yet the offences under Sections 13/18/23/39 of UA(P) Act are well established against them for the purpose of framing charge against them”, the court said.
“Since the accused persons are also prima facie to be the actual residents of village Tedaban Tehsil Khurshidabad PoK and they have crossed the LoC and entered into the territory of India without any permit or permission as such, they are also prima facie found to be guilty for the offences under Sections 3/3-A of Egress & Internal Movement Control Ordinance 2005”, the court further said.
Since the prohibited arms and ammunitions were recovered at the instance of the accused persons which were hidden by them for the purpose of facilitating the LeT terrorists and also for committing terror attacks as such, they are also found to be guilty for the offence under Section 7/25 Arms Act, the court said, adding “accordingly the formal charges have been framed against the accused persons in the manner”.
The charges were read over and explained to the accused person through virtual mode who denied the same and claimed to be tried. The charge forms were forwarded to the Central Jail Kot Bhalwal, Jammu for obtaining the signatures of the accused persons. The same has been received back with the signatures of the accused persons and which were found attested by Superintendent Central Jail Kot Bhalwal Jammu.
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