Six including Phd Scholar arrested in failed Pulwama type Suicide attack : Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizbul worked in close coordination to plan attack at Banihal

Jammu, April, 29th   : On 30.03.2019 at 1015 hrs, a failed Pulwama type IED car bomb attack was carried out by terrorists at NHW Tethar Banihal. In this regard a case FIR No 39/19 U/S 307/120/120A/121/121A RPC, 4/5 Explosive Substances Act, 15/16 /18/20 ULA (P) Act was registered at Police Station Banihal and investigation was given to SDPO Banihal. During investigation, cordon and search operation was launched and the attacker namely Owais Amin S/O Mohd Amin R/O Vehil Shopian was arrested on 31.03.2019. A Special Investigation Team headed by Sh. Sanjay Parihar Addl. SP Ramban comprising of Sh Sajjad Sarwar (JKPS) SDPO Banihal, Insp Ijaz Ahmed Wani, SHO P/S Banihal, Inspector Karan Chalotra SHO P/S Pacca Danga Jammu, Inspector Pankaj Sharma Incharge ESU Jammu, SI Deepak Katoch, SI Vijay Sharma, ASI Mohd Shafiq, Sgct Fayaz Ahmed and Sgct. Parveen Sharma under the supervision of DIG (P) DKR Batote was constituted by IGP Jammu Sh. M. K. Sinha to investigate the said case. The assistance of Special Operation Group (SOG) Jammu was also taken and during the sustained interrogation of the Suicide Bomber by the specialised team of SOG headed by SSP SOG Sandeep Mehta and SIT members, the Police was able to bust the HM module which was responsible for the attack. In the interrogation, he revealed that he was from HM and was in a suicide mission. Further leads given by him worked upon meticulously by the SIT under close supervision of IGP Jammu, Shri M. K. Sinha, IPS and which lead to the busting of module and arrest of other accompliaces of Owais Amin viz.
(1)  Umar Shafi s/O Mohd Shafi
(2) Aqib Shah S/O Mohd Shafi Shah both R/O Vehil Shopian,
(3) Shahid Wani @ Watson S/O Mohd Ayub Wani R/O Kinhama Shopian  and
(4) Wasim Ahmed Dar alias Doctor S/O Abdul Majeed Dar R/O Chakora Pulwama.
(5) Hilal Mantoo S/o Ghulam Rasool Mantoo persuing his Phd from Central University of Punjab and active member of Jamat-e-Tulaba, student wing of Jamat-e-Islami.

It was revealed by the Suicide Bomber Owais Amin that he had been motivated by an active HM Commander Rayees Ahmed Khan alias Imaad Khan R/o Shopian and Omar Shafi to attack the security forces on the directions of the HM Chief Commander Riyaz Naikoo and then he undertook this attack. He further disclosed that the car which was used in the blast on 30th April 2019 was fabricated by Waseem @ Doctor and some other militants and was handed over to him to attack a convoy of security forces. On 30th April, on an appropriate moment, he chose the target of CRPF convoy and detonated the car in which he was sitting but the explosion packed in the car only blasted partially and he survived with injuries. Next day i.e on 31st April 2019, he was apprehended by Naka party of JKP and Army while he was trying to flee back to Kashmir. The module of HM militants in this case has been arrested by police. On the disclosure of Wasim and acting on a specific information another member of the HM Module involved in this car blast attack namely Hilal Mantoo S/O Gulam Rasool Mantoo R/O Chakora Pulwama (Kashmir) was arrested by a team of SOG Jammu headed by Dy. SP PC Iftkhar Chaudhary from Central University Punjab where he was pursuing his Ph. D degree.

The Kashmir based officers especially IGP Kashmir, SSP Shopian and SSP Pulwama played a crucial role in this case in providing vital leads to the SIT members and played an active role in the apprehension of the members of this HM module. With this arrest of Hilal Ahmed Mantoo today, the J&K Police has achieved a major success in thwarting the nefarious designs of the HM militant organization.
The investigation has now been handed over to NIA.