NIA raids Sarpanch and OGWs houses in S Kashmir

New Delhi/Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency on Sunday morning carried out searches at five places, including that of a Sarpanch, in connection with a case in which a senior Jammu and Kashmir police officer was arrested while ferrying terrorists outside the Valley, officials said here.

Multiple NIA teams fanned in various parts of south Kashmir's Kulgam and Shopian districts, carried out the searches at the residences of Rafi Ahmed Rather, an arrested militant, at Zainpora.

The NIA teams entered into the house of Lashker-e-Taiba terrorist Adil Hussain and Sarpanch Tariq Ahmed Mir besides the houses of Over Ground Workers (OGWs) at Maldera in Shopian and Kulgam, the officials added.

Some documents have been seized and these are being analysed, they said.

The NIA had taken over the case of Jammu and Kashmir's Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Davinder Singh who was caught in south Kashmir while ferrying two terrorists out of the valley on January 11. The DSP has since been suspended. The searches come days after NIA officers interrogated all the accused arrested in the case.

Besides Singh, the others arrested were: Syed Naveed Mushtaq Ahmed alias Naveed Babu, who is a self-styled commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Rafi Ahmed Rather and Irfan Shafi Mir, who claims to be an advocate.

They were arrested from the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway near Qazigund in south Kashmir. Later, Naveed's brother, Syed Irfan Ahmed, was arrested on January 23 after he was brought from Punjab.

He was in constant touch with his brother and had asked him to look for accommodation in Chandigarh where they could escape the harsh winter months of Kashmir. With agency inputs