Close aide of Pulwama mastermind held in Delhi

New Delhi: 27-year-old Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Sajjad Ahmed Khan, a close aide of Pulwama attack mastermind Muddasir Khan, was arrested by the police near the Lajpat Rai market, officials said on Friday.  

He was remanded to NIA custody till March 29 by a city court. The NIA had sought his custody for 10 days from additional sessions judge Rakesh Syal. Advocate M.S. Khan, appearing for Sajjad Khan, opposed the agency’s demand.

Sajjad was living under the guise of a shawl vendor and had been specifically sent to Delhi by Mudassir to establish a sleeper cell of JeM. He was in regular touch with Mudasir before and after the Pulwama terror attack. It is also suspected that he was involved in the attacks, DCP Pramod Singh Kushwah said.

His mission was to carry out reconnaissa-nce of important targ-ets, set up a hideout in Delhi and to radicalise and recruit Muslim you-th from UP and other states. He was also tasked with providing them weapon training, explosives and field craft, raising funds and collecting weapons, DCP said.

The NIA had recently registered a case in which Sajjad, along with Mudassir Khan, was named as an accused. Sajjad’s two brothers were slain JeM terrorists.

Initially, the three brothers were engaged in stone-pelting incidents. His brother Ishfaq was shot down in exchange of fire with security forces on April 25, 2018, in Pulwama along with two other Pak militants.

“His other brother Sho-wkat also subsequently died in an exchange of fire with the security for-ces in September 2018 in Pulwama,” the DCP said.

Sajjad initially provided information about movement of convoys and cordon and search operations carried by the Army. Mudasir instructed him to spot young Kashmiri youth for fidayeen attacks, Mr Kushwah said, adding that on the day of Pulawama terror attack, Mudasir contacted Sajjad on WhatsApp and informed him about the CRPF convoy attack. Mudasir then sent him the video of Adil Dar (fidayeen), which he deleted from his phone.