NIA get proof for Pakistan hand behind Kerala Jihadis

Pak hand in terror recruitment proved: NIA
VR Jayaraj | Kochi

The NIA has got credible proofs of Pakistan’s hand in the recruitment of Kerala youths into the LeT for training in Kashmir, Loknath Behra, the agency’s chief of Operations, has said. He also said that there were no technical hindrances for the NIA to take over the probe into the Taliban-model attack on Prof TJ Joseph of Muvattupuzha.

Behra said in Kochi on Sunday that the agency had got evidences for the role of Pak citizen “Wali” Abdul Rehman in the recruitment of Keralite youths for terror training in Kashmir. Wali could be named as one of the accused in the case of terror recruitment which the agency was probing in Kerala, he said.

The agency got the proofs of Pak hand in the terror recruitment from the interrogation of LeT operative David Coleman Headley, arrested in the US, he said. The terror recruitment had come to the knowledge of the security agencies after four militants from Kerala were killed in encounters in Kupwara, Kashmir in October, 2008.

The case regarding this was first registered at the Edakkad police station in Kannur after Abdul Jaleel, who had been in telephonic contact with the militants, was taken into custody. The NIA took over the probe into this last year-end much to the displeasure of the Kerala Home Department.

The Karnataka Police probing the 2008 Bangalore bombings had reportedly learned from LeT’s South India boss Thadiyantavide Nazeer that Wali was one of the supervisors of the terror outfit’s operations in India. The recruitment case was one of the first six the NIA had taken over from the Kerala Police.

Behra also said that the NIA could take over the probe into the July 4 Islamist attack on Prof Joseph by Islamists. He said the Kerala Police had included charges that came under the purview of the NIA. The case is presently being handled by the Crime Branch of the Kerala Police and its newly formed special wing, the Internal Security Investigation Team.

The NIA had earlier declined to take over the case on the ground that the Kerala Police had not charged the accused with offences that could give a role for the agency in the probe. However, the police team probing the case later revealed that such charges had also been included in the case.

As per Behra’s revelation, it is now up to the Kerala Government to take a decision on whether the case should be handed over to the NIA. The Kerala Police have already arrested m ore than 25 of the total 53 accused in the case.

Behra also said that the agency would file chargesheet this month itself in two of the cases it was handling in Kerala. These were the ones pertaining to the burning of a Tamil Nadu bus at Kalamassery off Kochi in 2005 and a secret SIMI meeting at Panayikkulam near Aluva on August 15, 2006.

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