New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday got the custody of the five men arrested for allegedly helping Lashkar-e-Taiba militant Naveed Jhatt escape from a hospital in Srinagar earlier this month.
The court of Srinagar’s chief judicial magistrate granted the agency a transit remand of two days of Shakeel Ahmed Bhat, Tika Khan, Syed Tajamul Islam, M Shafi Wani and Jan Mohammad Ganai – all residents of Pulwama in south Kashmir.
The central agency will produce the five accused before the special court in Jammu on Friday.
“We will seek police remand of the five accused for further interrogation,” NIA inspector general Alok Mittal said.
The accused were arrested a day after the dramatic escape of Jhatt from state-run Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital where he was taken for a medical checkup on February 6.
According to the police, some of the accused took positions in and around the hospital on the day of the attack and mingled with patients and attendants and even allegedly handed over a pistol to Jhatt.
Two police personnel – head constable Mushtaq Ahmed and constable Babar Ahmed of Jammu and Kashmir Police – were killed in the raid. (HT)