2004 J&K mosque attack: A file goes missing, trail cold in attack by ‘Hindu extremists’
The grenade attack on a Friday prayer gathering at the Ahle Hadees mosque in Peer Mitha on January 9, 2004, had left two J&K officials dead and 19 injured.
The grenade attack on a Friday prayer gathering at the Ahle Hadees mosque in Peer Mitha on January 9, 2004, had left two J&K officials dead and 19 injured. The Jammu police had initially blamed a small militant outfit, Tehreek-ul Mujahideen, and arrested 108 people. In 2005, the case was closed as “untraced”.
Seven years later, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had said Rajendra Chaudhary and Dhan Singh, arrested in connection with the 2007 Samjhauta Express attack and the 2008 Malegaon blasts, were behind the attack. In December 2012, an NIA team had questioned two youths from Kanachak in Jammu.
In the light of the NIA disclosures, a re-investigation was ordered, but it never took off because the J&K Police said that the original case file had been “stolen”.
Last month, special public prosecutor Rohini Salian had told The Indian Express that she was asked to “go soft” in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case by an NIA officer after the change of government at the Centre.
“The NIA asked for the evidence that we had collected from the spot immediately after the mosque grenade blasts,” a senior officer of the J&K Police said. He said he issued orders for a re-investigation, only to be told that the case file had been stolen from the police station. “A deputy superintendent of police was asked to investigate the theft,” he said.
No progress has been made since. “It’s in cold storage,” the officer said.
Director General of J&K Police K Rajendra said he was “surprised” when he got to know that the file was lost. He declined comment on the current status of the case.
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