Security personnel at the site after the Pahalgam terror attack
By Tehelka Web Desk
A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Jammu has issued a non-bailable warrant against Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistan-based founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), in connection with the investigation into the Pahalgam terror attack.
The warrant was issued by the Special Judge of the NIA Court on July 8, two days after the NIA filed a supplementary chargesheet naming Saeed in the case.
The supplementary chargesheet charges the 76-year-old in both his individual capacity and as the chief of the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its proxy outfit, The Resistance Front (TRF). He has been booked under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
According to the court order, the NIA informed the court that Saeed, a resident of Sargodha in Pakistan’s Punjab province, is an absconding accused in the Pahalgam terror attack case and has been deliberately evading arrest. The agency sought the issuance of an open-dated non-bailable warrant to facilitate further legal proceedings and continue the investigation.
The court observed: “Arrest and custodial interrogation of the accused (Saeed) are necessary for a fair, complete and effective investigation. As such non-bailable warrant of arrest is issued against him and is forwarded it to the Deputy Inspector General (DIG), NIA Jammu, for execution in accordance with law.”
Saeed has been designated a global terrorist by India and the United States and is widely regarded as the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
The Pahalgam terror attack took place on April 22 last year, when terrorists killed 26 people, most of them tourists, in south Kashmir. The NIA is continuing its investigation into the case.
