LeT recruitment case: NIA chargesheets its former officer, others

It has also alleged that Kashmiri human rights activist Khurram Parvez, among others, “collected information regarding vital installations, deployment and movement of security forces, procured official secret documents and passed on the same to their LeT handlers through encrypted communication channel for monetary consideration”.

The agency on Friday filed a charge sheet against Negi, Parvez and four others in a special court in Delhi. Pervez was booked under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), while Negi has not been charged under this anti-terror law. The former officer has been booked under Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), Official Secrets Act and the Indian Penal Code.

Others arraigned as accused have been identified as Muneer Ahmad Kataria and Arshid Ahmad Tonch from Kashmir, Zafar Abbas from Bihar, and Rambhawan Prasad and Chandan Mahato from West Bengal. Prasad and Mahato, too, have been charged only under the IPC.

The NIA had arrested Negi in February this year, shortly after Pervez’s arrest. NIA sources had then said that Negi had shared a confidential paper with an LeT overground worker, which had later made its way to Pakistan. Notably, it was Negi who had first raided Parvez’s residence in October 2020 when he was investigating a case against NGOs in Jammu and Kashmir.

Negi has been an NIA veteran having been with the agency since its inception. He has been among the key officers who probed Hindutva terror cases. He had gone back to his cadre in Himachal Pradesh late last year, following which the NIA searched his residence and subsequently arrested him.

According to NIA, the case pertains to conspiracy hatched by the LeT to fund and recruit operatives and OGWs for providing support in planning and execution of terrorist activities in various parts of India, including J&K.

“Investigation revealed that Parvez, Kataria, Tonch and Abbas to run a network of OGWs for furthering the activities of LeT and to commit terrorist acts in India. These accused persons collected information regarding vital installations, deployment and movement of security forces, procured official secret documents and passed on the same to their handlers through encrypted communication channel for monetary consideration,” the NIA chargesheet has claimed.

On Negi, NIA has said, “Investigation also revealed that Negi being a public servant abused his official position and unauthorisedly passed on secret documents to co-accused for monetary consideration and also demanded illegal gratification through co-accused for compromising investigation.”

According to the agency, Prasad and Mahato had forged identity documents and used the same for procuring SIM cards and opening bank accounts and passed them on to the co-accused for monetary benefits.

Sources said NIA has cited both witness statements and electronic evidence to support its case against the accused. During analysis of extracted social media data and emails of Pervez, NIA has claimed to have found various incriminates chats related to LeT.