New Delhi: India’s National Investigation Agency has named Pakistani national Sajid Saifullah Jutt as the chief conspirator behind the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that left 26 tourists dead, formally laying out Pakistan-based involvement in the assault.
In a chargesheet filed after an eight-month investigation, the NIA said Jutt, a resident of Pakistan’s Kasur district, heads The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba. The agency announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for information leading to his arrest and designated him a proscribed terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The chargesheet, submitted before a special NIA court in the Jammu region, also names three Pakistani terrorists — Suleimani Shah, Hamza Afghani and Jibran — who carried out the attack. All three were killed during Operation Mahadev in the Dachigam area on July 28.
Investigators have also booked six others, including local accomplices Bashir Ahmed Jothar, Parvez Ahmed Jothar and Mohammad Yusuf Katari, for providing shelter, food and logistical assistance to the attackers. Three additional individuals have been named in the case.
According to the NIA, Bashir and Parvez hosted the attackers in a hut in the Hill Park area on the night of April 21, a day before the assault. Katari allegedly guided the terrorists through the forest belt of south Kashmir and helped them reach the attack site.
The agency said it examined more than 1,000 people during its seven-month probe, which uncovered an operational network of Lashkar-e-Taiba and TRF behind the attack.
The accused have been charged under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Arms Act, 1959, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The NIA said it has also invoked provisions related to waging war against the Government of India.
“In its chargesheet, the NIA has invoked penal provisions pertaining to waging war against the Government of India,” the agency said in a statement.
