Intelligence agencies and the Jammu and Kashmir Police have found credible evidence that suggests Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed's son-in-law Khalid Waleed had reportedly plotted Saturday's attack on CRPF personnel, along with three other people.
According to the Times of India, Waleed was assisted by two of his deputies — Hanzla Adnan and Sajid Jat — who played handlers to the two terrorists, and Abu Dujana, south Kashmir's LeT commander who arranged for the local logistics.
Dujana has been identified as the one who arranged for over-ground workers (OGWs) for the two terrorists responsible for the Pampore attack. He is suspected to have arranged their stay and travel to the attack site, the daily reported.
Meanwhile, another battle broke out between the Army and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on Twitter over credit for who killed the terrorists in the gunfight that claimed the lives of eight jawans and injured 22 others.
According to NDTV, the Army posted three tweets on the gunfight that took place in Jammu and Kashmir's Pampore district, claiming credit for killing the terrorists.
The Northern Command of the Indian Army put out a tweet saying that it was the Army troops that had killed two terrorists who had opened fire on a bus carrying CRPF personnel.
CRPF soldiers protested against it and conveyed to the Army that a few of their officers reached the spot after the encounter and took selfies with the bodies of the terrorists. CRPF said the Army also carried away the bodies and the weapons to apparently claim credit for the killings, the Indian Express reported. The bodies were, however, later returned.
The Army again put out a revised tweet saying the terrorists were killed in a joint operation. Apparently, even that didn't go down well with the CRPF, after which the Army put out a third tweet giving full credit to the paramilitary forces for killing the terrorists, NDTV reported.
"Army's 51 RR (Rashtriya Rifles) unit reached the spot after the incident got over," CRPF Director General K Durga Prasad was quoted by NDTV as saying.
While CRPF has called it a deliberate attempt by the Army to claim credit for the gunfight it had no role in, Army sources were quoted by the Indian Express as saying it was an error because its troops were in Uri.
Responding to the allegations, the Army headquarters in Delhi released a statement on Tuesday evening which stated: "Encounter resulted in death of eight CRPF personnel and injury to over 20. Two terrorists were also killed. The RR troops, which responded, helped evacuate CRPF casualties as well as terrorists from sight of encounter. Bodies of terrorists along with their weapons, ammunition and magazines were handed over to the J&K police as per law."
Meanwhile, officials from the Home Ministry will visit Srinagar on Tuesday to interview officials and others linked to investigations of the gunfight, in order to prepare a full report for Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh, the IE reported.
