Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 20: The Jammu and Kashmir police State Investigation Agency (SIA) on Thursday raided the office of the Kashmir Times in Jammu for allegedly promoting anti-national activities.
According to sources in the police, Ak-47 cartridges, pistol rounds and three grenade levers were recovered during the searches that began earlier in the day and were underway till evening.
A First Information Report (FIR) was also registered against Kashmir Times for allegedly spreading disaffection, glorifying secessionism and threatening sovereignty and territorial integrity of India and the Union Territory.
Kashmir Times Executive Editor Anuradha Bhasin is also named in the FIR. The investigation aims to examine the paper’s alleged links and activities that “threaten the sovereignty” of India, the sources said. There was no immediate statement from the Kashmir Times.
The Kashmir Times is one of the oldest and most prominent newspapers of Jammu & Kashmir. It was founded by Ved Bhasin and produced as a weekly newspaper in 1954, before being converted into a daily in 1964.
Meanwhile, a Delhi court on Thursday remanded four accused in the Red Fort blast case to 10 days of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody. The NIA had sought 15 days to interrogate the four accused in its custody. They were earlier arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir police in connection with the seizure of over 2,900 kgs of explosives from two rented houses in Faridabad in Haryana and the subsequent Delhi blast.
Principal District and Sessions Judge Anju Bajaj Chandna sent the four accused to 10 days of NIA custody. The NIA has arrested these four prime accused on Thursday allegedly for involvement in the November 10 car bomb blast near iconic Red Fort in Delhi. With them, the total number of arrests in connection with the Delhi blast has gone up to six.
The four accused were taken into custody by the NIA in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, on production orders from the District Sessions Judge, Patiala House Court. The six accused included Dr Muzammil Shakeel Ganai of Pulwama (J&K), Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather of Anantnag (J&K), Dr Shaheen Saeed of Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), and Mufti Irfan Ahmad of Shopian (J&K). They had all played a key role in the terror attack that killed several innocent persons and left many others injured, as alleged by the NIA. The four accused were previously held by the J&K Police for the suspected links with a “terror” module.
The NIA had earlier arrested two other accused, Amir Rashid Ali, in whose name the car used in the blast was registered, and Jasir Bilal Wani alias Danish, who had allegedly provided technical aid to the terrorist involved in the deadly attack. They are currently in NIA custody.