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Pathankot probe: Now, NIA team to visit Pakistan

Dates for the visit will be be worked out later, NIA Director General Sharad Kumar said. 

“We expressed that a team of NIA could be sent to Pakistan to carry out a probe in the country since the conspiracy was hatched there. They have welcomed the idea and the dates will be worked out later,” he said.

Kumar said the NIA presented Pakistan’s Joint Investigation Team (JIT) with “concrete evidence” against the office-bearers of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), who conspired in the attack and the handlers of the terrorists who facilitated and guided them. 

“The NIA has also sought the voice samples of some senior office-bearers of the JeM,” he said, without naming anyone. However, NIA sources said they had sought voice samples of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf and Khayyam Babbar, mother of one of killed terrorists, identified as Nasir Hussain, as he had called her before launching the attack in Pathankot.
Kumar added that it had asked for a DNA sample of Nasir Hussain’s mother.

The NIA briefed the JIT on investigations in the case. The terror attack at the Pathankot airbase on January 2, 2016, left seven security personnel dead. Four terrorists were also killed in the gunbattle.
The Pakistan JIT, headed by Additional Inspector General of Police, Counter Terrorism Department, Muhammad Tahir Rai, in turn, shared with the NIA the results of investigations carried out by them so far in Pakistan.

“The interaction with the JIT was held in accordance with terms of reference mutually agreed on the basis of reciprocity. The Pakistan JIT assured us of their full cooperation and promised to execute the LR, which has been received by them,” Kumar said.

The JIT, which arrived here on March 27, interacted on the Pathankot case with NIA officials, which included a visit to the IAF base, where they were taken to the scene of crime as well as the location from where the terrorists sneaked in and hid. They also visited the spot where Ikagar Singh’s vehicle was snatched and the place where he was murdered, Kumar said, adding that the route taken by the terrorists was also shown to the JIT.

“These are part of the standard legal procedure of investigation followed in both nations,” he said. 
On JIT’s request, the NIA provided certified copies of post-mortem reports, call data record, DNA reports of the four terrorists and the seizure memo of articles from the scene of crime.

The Pakistan JIT was given access to 16 witnesses, including Superintendent of Police-rank officer of Punjab Salwinder Singh, his cook, Rajesh Verma and some witnesses as per the agreed terms of reference and extant legal provisions.

Pak JIT winds up probe in India
The Pakistani Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on Friday concluded its six-day discussions with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on the probe into the Pathankot terror attack. The visiting officials recorded the statements of the witnesses and collected DNA report of the slain terrorists. On the proposal for an NIA team’s visit to Pakistan, the JIT has welcomed it, saying mutually convenient dates will be worked out.  The Pakistani team began its day by recording the statements of witnesses in the case, NIA sources said. 

They recorded the statements of 16 witnesses, including SP-rank officer of Punjab Salwinder Singh, his jeweller-friend Rajesh Verma and cook Madan Gopal. The JIT had asked the NIA to hand over the swabs of the four terrorists, identified as Nasir Hussain (Punjab province), Abu Bakar (Gujranwala) and Umar Farooq and Abdul Qayum (both from Sindh). The Indian anti-terror probe agency has handed over to the visitors the DNA report of the terrorists to the JIT and asked the offcials concerned to match those with their family members, NIA sources said. 
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