J-K: NIA won't file chargesheet in Uri terror attack

The Uri attacks leads have turned cold and a top NIA official has confirmed Mail Today that they won't be filing any chargesheet.

Uri attacks were one of the deadliest attack against India in two decades which eventually lead to India's surgical strikes deep inside Pakistan terror launch pads.

"The role of Pakistan has established beyond doubt, the four terrorist who carried out the attack were killed in the encounter but for a charge-sheet you need specific names and details which have not emerged. There won't be any charge-sheet in the case," top NIA official told Mail Today.

lndia Today has also learnt that two other terror cases of 2016: the Handwara and Nagrota attack will meet a similar fate.

While in the Uri terror case, top sources told India Today that the agency even tried to activate local intelligence contacts across the Line of Control (LoC) in order to gather evidence in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) but despite best efforts, the probe made little headway.

Retracing the route taken by the Uri fidayeen from Pakistan also received a jolt after the US agency FBI as well as National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), which specialises in technical surveillance, failed to retrieve any data from the GPS set recovered from the attackers.

Both GPS were badly burnt, data sources confirmed was deleted. In last ditch effort, the agency even sent a Letter Rogatory (LR) to Pakistan, seeking response on seizures made after the biggest terror attack unleashed by suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, the request contains details of medicines, clothes, shoes, accessories, DNA of the one identified terrorist Abu Anas.

A year later, the identity of three other terrorist is yet to be established. Like in the past, Pakistan did not respond to agency request on leads.

Though, Army initially suspected the attack to be handiwork of Jaish terrorist, there was a turn around after Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD) Chief Hafiz Sayeed organised funeral prayers in absentia for one of the Uri attackers.

The event was postponed after massive pressure from India raising the matter in international platform.WHAT HAPPENED IN HANDWARA

In Handwara, three fidayeens dressed in army fatigues were killed in an encounter on October 6, 2017 as they opened fire outside the 30 Rashtriya Rifles camp at Langate. One of the Fidayeen's managed to flee.  

The National Investigation agency (NIA) managed to trace the origin of one phone to Pakistan.

The Huawei phone was shipped to a dealer in Pakistan, while the Samsung mobile phone was shipped by a company to Zambia, from where it was further transported to Mauritius.

Back and forth communication led to no real result. The terror masterminds had managed to cover their tracks.

NAGROTA ATTACK

In Nagrota terror attack, the investigation agency closed in on Jaish behind Army camp attack in which two officers and five soldiers were killed in November 2016. The evidence was a slip of Afzal Guru Squad.

In all three cases the NIA zeroed in on terror module but failed to provide evidence against specific commander or come close to naming them.

In the three high profile terror attacks, three Inspector General (IG) officers were leading the probe spending days with sleuths to uncover the terror plot in Jammu Kashmir.

With no live accused identified or in custody, the agency which would otherwise would have filed a case under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), within the mandatory 180 days has instead decided against filing a charge-sheet in the case.

The agency which boasts of 95 per cent conviction rate may have been disappointed in not finding sufficient evidence to nail the top terror masterminds.

However, the agency has moved on in probing other active cases. Incidentally NIA is investigating the Kashmir Terror Funding case, the case is in advanced stage of investigation.

The agency will be filing its chargesheet before 15 January against seven accused likely to be in third week of January.

This after NIA will be seeking MHA nod for filing chargesheets in the next few days.