Brother of J&K Congress leader booked under UAPA

Brother of a senior Congress leader and former state minister in Jammu and Kashmir has been booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by police for allegedly giving shelter to Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militants, who were involved in recent terror attacks in hilly Kishtwar district.

Mohammad Shafi Saroori, brother of Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, a three-time Congress MLA and former cabinet minister, was among six persons, who were booked for allegedly helping the militants in their movement and arranging shelter for them in their houses.

Sources said that during questioning, militants arrested in Kishtwar in connection with killings of BJP leader Anil Parihar and his brother Ajit Parihar, top RSS functionary Chanderkant Sharma and his PSO Rajinder Singh, disclosed the identity of persons who had provided logistics.

“The arrested militants disclosed that Shafi Saroori and five others were instrumental in sheltering or arranging shelter for the militants and facilitating their movement including those who were involved in four major terror acts in Kishtwar during past 11 months,” they said and added based on their disclosures police have booked all of them in FIR No 229 registered under Sections 13/18/19/38/39 UAPA at Kishtwar police station.

Police said all six persons were involved in harbouring and abetting militancy in Kishtwar town. The extent of their involvement will be known once they are arrested and subjected to interrogation, police added.

Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, who was elected MLA from Inderwal Assembly constituency in 2002, 2008 and 2014, is considered as a close aide of Congress Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad. Both Saroori and Azad hail from the Doda district of the Jammu region.