NIA raids J&K residence of alleged Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist

The accused has been identified as Riaz Ahmed, a resident of Kishtwar in Jammu & Kashmir.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday raided the residential premises of an absconding accused in the Hizbul Mujahideen terror conspiracy case.

The accused has been identified as Riaz Ahmed, a resident of Kishtwar in Jammu & Kashmir. The NIA has announced a reward of ₹3 lakh for information leading to his arrest.

The case, registered initially by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad in Lucknow on September 12, 2018, was taken over by the NIA on September 24, 2018. It was alleged that one Kamruk Zaman and others had planned to carry out terror attacks in Uttar Pradesh and other parts of the country.

Zaman and one absconding accused, Osama Bin Javed, were charge-sheeted by the agency on March 11, 2019. Osama was later killed in an encounter with the security forces on September 28, 2019.

In May 2021, the NIA submitted a supplementary chargesheet against the arrested accused persons, Nisar Ahmad Sheikh and Nishad Ahmad Butt, both residents of J&K. A second supplementary chargesheet was filed against Danish Naseer, who was also arrested, in November 2022.

According to the agency, Zaman was radicalised by Javed to join the proscribed outfit and both underwent nine-month physical and weapon-handling training. Riaz Ahmad, alleged district deputy commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, along with its district commander and co-accused Mohammad Amin, was involved in recruiting and training Zaman and Javed in the forests of Kishtwar.

After completion of the training, Zaman was directed to set up bases and hideouts, and select targets in Uttar Pradesh, Assam and other parts of India. Accordingly, he had gone to Kanpur where he carried out reconnaissance of a few prospective targets, as alleged.