NEW DELHI, May 2: Jammu and Kashmir Police was not kept in the loop by Delhi Police when it arrested suspected Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Liyaqat Shah while the former was aware about his planned return to surrender under rehabilitation policy, the NIA has told the Home Ministry.
The National Investigation Agency, which was asked to probe the circumstances leading to the arrest of Liyaqat following conflicting versions by Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir police, submitted a preliminary report which suggested that the J-K police was not informed before his arrest along the Indo-Nepal border on March 20, official sources said.
While the Delhi Police claimed that he was a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist, its Jammu and Kashmir counterpart insisted that he was one of those who had exfiltrated in 1990s and had returned to India to surrender under the rehabilitation policy of the State Government.
The NIA conveyed to the Home Ministry that Jammu and Kashmir Police was aware about Liyaqat’s planned return and neither the SSB, which first detained him, nor the Delhi Police informed the Jammu and Kashmir Police about his arrest, the sources said.
However, it is not immediately known as to what the NIA says in its report on the Delhi Police’s claims that it had foiled a ‘fidayeen’ strike’ in the capital ahead of Holi with Liyaqat’s arrest.
The NIA had stepped in on the direction of the Home Ministry after Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah demanded a “speedy and time-bound” probe by the agency into the circumstances leading to the arrest of Liyaqat.
Delhi Police contended that it had information about arrival of Liyaqat and the input was based on the intelligence generated by the force itself.
They claimed he was a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist who planned attacks to avenge the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
The Jammu and Kashmir police, however, supported the claims of Liyaqat’s family that he was a former militant who had surrendered before SSB at the Sanauli check-post on the Nepal border and was in a group returning from PoK under the rehabilitation policy. (AGENCIES)
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