NIA arrests fifth accused in 2017 Lethpora terror case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested the fifth accused in connection with a terror attack on the CRPF group centre at Lethpora village in Pulwama district in December 2017 that killed five personnel, officials said here.

An NIA spokesman said Irshad Ahmad Reshi was picked up from Pulwama in south Kashmir after the interrogation of Nisar Ahmed Tantray and Syed Hilal Andrabi, nabbed earlier by the probe agency.

He alleged that Reshi was an over ground worker of the proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group. He was allegedly a close associate of Noor Mohammad Tantray alias Noor Trali, who was instrumental in reviving the outfit in the Valley, and killed in an encounter with security forces in December 2017.

Reshi will be produced before the Special NIA court in Jammu on Monday with a request for grant of police custody for further investigation, the spokesman said.

The spokesman said the attack on CRPF Group Centre at Lethpora was executed under a conspiracy to avenge the death of Trali. He said that Reshi was found to be a key conspirator who provided logistic support in the form of sheltering and transporting the terrorists and conducted recce of the CRPF group centre.

The attack on the CRPF centre was carried out in the intervening night of December 30 and 31 in 2017 by three terrorists allegedly belonging to the JeM. Five CRPF personnel and the three terrorists died during the event.