3 terrorists involved in attack on Policeman arrested in Srinagar: J&K DGP

Srinagar: Director General of J&K Police R R Swain on Sunday said that three terrorists who were involved in an attack on a policeman in Srinagar’s Bemina area have been arrested.

Addressing a press conference in Srinagar DGP said that the trio have confessed to their involvement in the attack which was carried at the behest of their Pakistan-based handler.

A policeman, identified as Mohammadd Hafeez Chak who was posted at Police station Banmohalla Fateh Kadal in Down town Srinagar was on way to his home when a militant fired upon him in Hamdaniya Colony locality of Bemina, on December 9.

Constable Chak was injured in the attack following which he was moved to the nearby SKIMS Bemina and later referred to Army Base Hospital in Badami Bagh.

“Accordingly, a case under relevant sections of the law was registered in P/S Bemina. During the course of investigation, based on inputs subsequently corroborated by technical evidence, few suspects were zeroed in and upon their sustained questioning they confessed to their involvement in the said attack,” Swain said.

The accused have been identified as Imtiyaz Ahmad Khanday and Danish Ahmad Mala both Hamdaniya Colony Sector- A and Mehnan Khan alias Mehran of Khawajapora Saidapora Rainawari Srinagar were arrested in the instant case.

“Weapon of offence and huge cache of arms and ammunition were also recovered on their specific disclosures,” he said.

The recoveries from Imtiyaz Ahmad Khanday include a Canik TP09 Pistol of Turkish make, 1 magazine and 1 round 9mm (Weapon of Offence). One Canik TP09 Pistol of Turkish make, 1 magazine, 7 rounds (Bullets) 9mm were recovered from Mehnan Khan and 57 Rounds of 9mm and 2 Magazines were recovered from Danish Malla.

“They further disclosed that they were in touch with one Pakistan Administered Kashmir (PAK) based handler Alias Hamza Burhan who along with these three accused persons hatched a conspiracy to target a police personal in Srinagar city in furtherance of which Danish along with Imtiyaz identified a target and executed their plan on December 9, 2023. Further, arms and ammunition were illegally trafficked from across for this attack,” he said.

The J&K police chief said that during the course of investigation, it came to fore that the arrested trio had prepared a long list of policemen to be targeted.

“There were others on the list as well but the majority of targets were policemen,” he said.

Asked whether it was for the first time that Turkey-made pistols were recovered, the DGP said that in the past such small-arms were recovered as well.

“Such weapons are being dropped from drones and pushed into J&K through other means as well,” he said. “Such weapons being light in weight are easy to carry.”

In a question whether there was any connection of the module with the killing of police inspector Masroor Ahmed Wani who was attacked while playing cricket at Eidgah, Srinagar on October 29, the DGP said the case is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

He hailed police for professionally investigating the Bemina Cop attack case and nailing the accused. (UNI)