SRINAGAR: A lawyer linked to Congress and accused of ferrying terrorists in his car was arrested and booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in south Kashmir's Shopian on Thursday, barely a fortnight after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) picked up PDP youth wing chief Waheed-ur-Rehman Para for allegedly hobnobbing with the banned Hizbul Mujahideen.
J&K police said Gowhar Ahmed Wani had been absconding for two days since Monday, when the Army's 44 Rashtriya Rifles intercepted his car at Baba Khader Rampura Chowk in the Trenz area of Shopian, based on inputs that some suspected terrorists were travelling with him. The lawyer deserted his car even as the Army team went in pursuit of the terrorists who had jumped out of the vehicle before him, an officer said.
Wani, a resident of Imam Sahab, returned home on Wednesday and was immediately detained for interrogation. "He had initially tried to play the victim. We formally arrested him after hours of questioning him," a senior police officer said.
Wani is the second political functionary from Shopian to be arrested this year on charges of aiding terrorists, although his party affiliation has been challenged by Congress. J&K Congress chief G A Mir told TOI, "We don’t have anybody by the name Gowhar Wani in our ranks in Shopian. The police are wrongly linking some lawyer they have arrested with Congress. We vehemently deny having anything to do with him."
In May, the NIA team probing suspended DSP Davinder Singh's alleged nexus with terrorist outfits had nabbed a former sarpanch from the district allegedly moonlighting as an arms supplier to terrorist outfits. Accused Tariq Mir, who was elected sarpanch on a National Conference ticket, had also contested and lost the Wachi assembly seat in south Kashmir on a BJP ticket in 2014.
Meanwhile, a local youth identified as Irshad Ahmad Reshi was arrested in the Tral area of Pulwama on Thursday with some ammunition, including eight detonators, and a walkie-talkie.
In Kulgam's Nehama, suspected terrorists lobbed a hand grenade at a CRPF camp belonging to the 18 Battalion. No loss of life or injury was reported.