NIA grills zipline operator seen in viral video

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has questioned for the second time a Pahalgam zipline operator, Muzammil, who features in a viral video related to the April 22 terror attack in which 25 tourists and a local were killed.

In the video, Muzammil is purportedly heard saying Allahu Akbar thrice moments before the attack, which had raised questions about his possible involvement.

The video is recorded by a tourist from Ahmedabad, Rishi Bhatt, who is seen enjoying the ride even as the attack unfolded on the ground below at Baisaran meadow.

Shot using a selfie stick, the video showed people running for their lives, with one of them falling, apparently after being gunned down by a terrorist. The video has been verified and added to the digital evidence under review.

NIA sources, however, said there was no evidence linking Muzammil to the attackers. Investigators believe the religious chant was an “instinctive response to the sound of gunfire”, and "not an indicator of his complicity”.

Talking to reporters in Ahmedabad, Bhatt said he had gone to Baisaran with his wife and a child and they decided to enjoy a zipline ride. While his wife and child took the ride safely and reached the other side, the firing started just as his ride began, he said.

Bhatt, who is into event management business, said he detached himself, jumped off the zipline and ran with his family. They hid in a blind spot where three to four others had taken refuge. After around eight to 10 minutes when the shots subsided, they started running again and managed to escape, he said.

“Two terrorists were on the ground asking people about their religion and shooting them. The rest were hiding in the bushes and firing. There may have been four to five terrorists, from the way the bullets were being fired. Two persons were on the ground, but we have no idea how many were firing from the bushes," he said.

Meanwhile, multiple NIA teams, along with forensic experts, are continuing to comb the attack site, scouring everything from tourist zipline areas to the forested terrain for clues that could help reconstruct the events.

Once key witnesses are interviewed and all available video footage reviewed, investigators plan to reconstruct the sequence of events to better understand the movement of the attackers before and after the strike.