The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has obtained a non-bailable warrant against Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed in connection with its investigation into the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, officials said.
The warrant was issued by a special NIA court on July 8 after the agency filed a supplementary chargesheet naming the 76-year-old terror mastermind as an accused in the case.
In the chargesheet submitted before the special NIA court in Jammu, Saeed has been named both in his individual capacity and as the chief of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba and its proxy outfit, The Resistance Front (TRF). He has been booked under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967.
According to the court order, the NIA informed the court that Saeed, a resident of Sargodha in Pakistan’s Punjab province, has been absconding and deliberately evading arrest. The agency sought an open-dated non-bailable warrant to facilitate further legal proceedings and enable action against him during the course of the investigation.
Allowing the request, the court observed that Saeed’s arrest and custodial interrogation were necessary for a fair, complete and effective investigation, and directed that the non-bailable warrant be forwarded to the Deputy Inspector General (DIG), NIA Jammu, for execution in accordance with law.
Hafiz Saeed has been designated a global terrorist by India and the United States and is also regarded as the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
The case pertains to the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam in south Kashmir, in which 26 people, most of them tourists, were killed.
