Police search Sohail’s flat in Dera Bassi

Satinder Pal Singh

Dera Bassi, October 16

Sohail Ahmed Bhatt, the forth Kashmiri student rounded up by the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Police on October 11, was studying at the Universal Group of Institutions at Lalru, said the police.

This has come to fore during the investigation carried out by the Jalandhar police who had already sought Sohail’s remand for 10 days.

A team led by DSP Tejinder Pal Singh visited the city on Tuesday and conducted a search operation in a flat at Gulmohar City, Dera Bassi, where Sohail was putting up in a rented accommodation. However, during search operation, the police team could not find any weapon or explosive from Sohail’s room.

Bhatt is a native of Awantipura and is believed to be the closest associate of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH) head Zakir Rashid Bhat, also known as Zakir Musa. The J&K Police have rounded up Sohail and handed him over to the Punjab Police recently. He was found to be an associate of the three Kashmiri students arrested.

The DSP said he had already asked the police personnel to make draft of students residing at hostels and paying guest accommodations so that they are able to keep a vigil on them.

It is pertinent to mention that the Punjab Police and the special operations group of the Jammu and Kashmir Police had busted a terror module on October 10 with the arrest of three Kashmiri students, Zahid Gulzar, Mohammed Idris Shah alias Nadeem and Yusuf Rafiq Bhatt, linked to Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH). The students were nabbed from the hostel of the CT Institute of Engineering Management and Technology at Shahpur on the outskirts of Jalandhar. Two weapons, including an assault rifle, and explosives were recovered from them.