NIA arrests key conspirator Fayyaz in Kishtwar’s Parihar brothers killing case

Mukesh Ranjan
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 28

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) said on Wednesday it has arrested Malik Noor Mohd. Fayyaz, the suspected key conspirator in the killing of Parihar Brothers of Kishtwar in Jammu & Kashmir.

Officials in the agency said the 51-year-old Fayyaz was arrested from village Phagsoo in Doda district of J&K.

The officials said its investigation in the case revealed that the larger conspiracy hatched by the terrorists of Hizbul Mujahideen and over-ground workers (OGW), who were reviving the terrorism in the region of Chenab valley including Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban and this led to the identification of arrested accused Fayyaz.

It also came to light that Fayyaz was the co-conspirator in reviving terrorism in Chenab valley, they said, adding that the arrested accused visited Assam and Nagaland with slain Hizbul terrorist Osama-bin-Javid for procurement of the weapons for the said purpose.

Fayyaz, who was also found to be instrumental in motivating and recruiting gullible Muslim youths to join the cadres of Hizbul, was produced in NIA Special Court, Jammu, on Wednesday and taken in NIA custody for three days, said the officials.

The case was initially registered on November 1, 2018, by J&K Police in Kishtwar relating to the killing of Anil Kumar Parihar and his brother Ajit Kumar Parihar by unknown criminals, who fired upon them while they were returning home in the evening that day.

Later NIA took over the case and re-registered an FIR on November 28, 2018, and began probing the case.

NIA had earlier charge sheeted seven accused persons including three killed terrorists of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen namely Osama-bin-Javid, Haroon Abbas Wani, Zahid Hussain, and four arrested accused persons namely Nisar Ahmed Sheikh, Nishad Ahmed Butt, Azad Hussain Bagwan, and Rustam Ali, all residents of Kishtwar (J&K), in a Special Court, Jammu on May 15, 2020.