Kashmiri students' arrest in Jalandhar: Fourth accused helped in procuring weapons, police say

The fourth accused, Sohail Ahmed Bhat, who was rounded up on Thursday, is a schoolmate of the three Kashmiri students who were arrested from a hostel near Jalandhar and had assisted them in getting weapons for the planned terror attack, said Punjab Police on Saturday.

Sohail had assisted the three accused in picking up the weapon consignment, which was brought from Amritsar on October 7, the police said.

The four accused — Sohail Ahmed Bhat, Zahid Gulzar, Mohammed Idris Shah alias Nadeem and Yusuf Rafiq Bhatt — had done their schooling from Senior High School, Noorpura, at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Punjab Police and the special operations group of Jammu and Kashmir Police had busted a terror module on Wednesday with the arrest of three Kashmiri students linked to Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH) outfit from a 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 recovered from them. Sohail of Awantipura was rounded up by the Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday. He was studying Btech in Universal Group of Institutions at Lalru, Mohali and was staying in Dera Bassi.

“Sohail had shared the Whatsapp location of the place from where the three accused had to pick the consignment,” said a senior police official requesting anonymity. 

None of the accused have any past criminal records and were not even paid but only motivated by the AGH.

A case has been registered under Sections 121 (waging, or attempting to wage war against the country), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Relevant sections of the Arms Act and the Explosives Act have also been slapped, said the police.