india

Updated: Sep 23, 2019 16:37 IST

Police in Jammu and Kashmir claimed on Monday Hizbul Mujahideen was behind the killings of two senior BJP and RSS leaders in the state and said the murders were a part of the terror group’s conspiracy to revive militancy in the state’s Kishtwar district.

Inspector general of police (Jammu) Mukesh Singh said three Hizbul militants have been arrested for their involvement in four terror-related cases between November last year and September this year.

They include the murders of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s leader Anil Parihar and his brother Ajeet Parihar. Mukesh Singh also said the three were also behind the killings of RSS leader Chandrakant Sharma and his bodyguard Rajinder Kumar.

The senior official said the terror-related incidents were part of a conspiracy hatched in 2017-18 to revive Hizbul Mujahideen in the Chenab Valley region comprising Doda, Ramban, Kishtwar districts.

Singh said Jehangir Saroori, an old but active terrorist of the Hizbul, was the mastermind behind the conspiracy. According to Singh, Saroori came together with Osama, Haroon of Doda, Zaheed Nisar Ahmed Sheikh, Nishad Ahmed and Azad Hussain.

“Jehangir connived with Nisar Ahmed Sheikh, Osama and other militants to revive Hizbul Mujahideen in Chenab valley and under this conspiracy, they first executed the killings of BJP leader Anil Parihar,” the senior police official said while speaking to reporters.

Rustam, a resident of Kishtwar, was also a part of the group. Rustam, Singh said, built hideouts in the houses of Nishad and Azad, which were used before and after every terror-related incident in Kishtwar region in over one year.

“We have arrested Nisar Ahmed Sheikh, Nishad Ahmed and Azad Hussain. On their disclosures, their hideouts were raided and arms and ammunition including magazines, rifles and pistols were recovered from them,” he added.

Singh said investigations were on and more arrests were likely in the days to come.

“Our effort is to arrest all terrorists active in the region and we will arrest them soon. In this entire exercise, the army, NIA and CRPF played a major role,” he said.

Mukesh Singh also warned against people giving shelter to terrorists and said that whoever helped them will be dealt with sternly.

The Kishtwar district, which was declared terrorism-free over a decade ago, was rattled by the killings of Parihar and his brother on November 1, 2018. It was followed by the killing of RSS leader Chandrakant Sharma and his security guard Rajinder Kumar inside the Kishtwar district hospital on April 9 this year.

An AK-47 assault rifle and three magazines were snatched at gunpoint from the personal security officer of Kishtwar’s deputy commissioner Angrez Singh Rana on March 8, 2019.

Two special police officers were injured on May 31 in an encounter with terrorists in Appan area of Marwah belt in the same district.

On September 13, three militants snatched an AK-47 rifle and its magazines from the PDP district president Sheikh Nasir’s personal security officer and fled in his brother’s car. They also held his family hostage.