Bathinda/Srinagar, Apr 23: A Kashmiri PhD scholar was arrested in a joint operation of the Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab Police from the Central University in Bathinda on Tuesday for alleged militancy links, police said.
The accused, Hilal Ahmed, 28, is being taken to Jammu and Kashmir for further investigation. The arrest was made following a raid conducted in the varsity campus, Bathinda Senior Superintendent of Police Nanak Singh was quoted as saying by a news agency.
Over the past one year, the police in both states have raided institutions in various parts of Punjab and arrested students.
Meanwhile, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mohali discharged a Kashmiri student arrested in connection with the Jalandhar attack, reported ‘The Times of India’.
According to the report, special NIA judge Nirbhow Singh Gill issued Danish Rehman Sofi’s release order on Monday.
“Danish was arrested on October 19, 2018, a week after Punjab Police and Special Operations Group of Jammu and Kashmir Police busted a module in Jalandhar with the arrest of four Kashmiri students allegedly linked to the militant outfit, Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH),” the report said.
“Three Kashmiri students — Zahid Gulzar, Mohammed Idris Shah alias Nadeem, and Yusuf Rafiq Bhatt — were arrested on October 10, 2018 from the hostel of CT Institute of Engineering Management and Technology at Shahpur on the outskirts of Jalandhar. Two weapons, including an assault rifle, and explosives were claimed recovered from them. Fourth Kashmiri student, Sohail Ahmed Bhatt, was arrested on October 11, 2018. Sohail, who was also a student in Jalandhar, was picked up for assisting the three arrested students in picking up the weapon consignment from Amritsar on October 7, 2018,” it said.
“Danish, from Awantipora town in Pulwama district, was a third year B Tech student of Universal Group of Institutions, Lalru, Mohali, and used to stay in Dera Bassi. He was arrested from Kashmir,” said the report.
“The NIA had earlier filed chargesheet against the accused and had mentioned it did not find any evidence of Danish’s involvement in the case. The chargesheet said that the NIA court could drop the charges against Danish filed by the police as there was no evidence against him,” the newspaper reported.
“Danish has been discharged of all the sections he was arrested — 121 (waging or attempting to wage war against the country and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Arms Act and the Explosives Act,” ‘The Times of India’ quoted the judge’s order as having said.
