New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Sunday the fifth accused, Irshad Ahmad Reshi, in connection with a terror attack on the CRPF group centre at Lethpora village in Pulwama district in December 2017 which killed five personnel, officials said here.
A NIA spokesman said he was picked up from Pulwama after the interrogation of Nisar Ahmed Tantray and Syed Hilal Andrabi, nabbed earlier by the probe agency.
The NIA alleged that Reshi was an over ground worker of the proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group and a close associate of slain terrorist Noor Mohammad Tantray alias Noor Trali, a little over four-feet tall. Trali, who was instrumental in reviving the outfit in the Valley, was killed in an encounter with security forces in December 2017.
The spokesman said the attack on CRPF Group Centre at Lethpora was executed under a conspiracy to avenge the death of Trali. He informed that Reshi has been found to be a key conspirator who provided logistic support in the form of sheltering and transport for the terrorists and conducted reconnaissance of the CRPF group centre before the terror attack.
The attack on the CRPF centre was carried out in the intervening night of December 30 and 31 in 2017 by three terrorists belonging to the JeM. They were later identified as Fardeen Ahmad Khandey, Manzoor Baba and Pakistani, Abdul Shakoor, a resident of the Rawalakot area of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Besides Tantray and Andrabi, the other accused arrested in the case are Fayaz Ahmad Magrey and Manzoor Ahmed Bhat. The spokesperson said that Reshi will be produced Monday before the Special NIA court in Jammu Monday with a request for grant of police custody for further investigation.