The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has found during a probe that the Lashkar-e-Mustafa terrorist outfit was formed by Pakistani's ISI to divert the international pressure and to take responsibility of the Pulwama Attack.
"It was the plan of Mufti alias Abdul Rauf, the brother of Maulana Masood Azhar. He created Lashkar-e-Mustafa (LeM). They recruited people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the name of arms smuggling and later used them for terror activities. Pakistani agency ISI was supporting Jaish-e-Mohammed and was fully controlling the Lashkar-e-Mustafa and was done to divert the international pressure," said a source.
The source said that Pakistan was facing international pressure after the Pulwama attack. The Pakistan-based terrorist groups wanted to show that LeM was behind the attack and Indians were working for LeM. This was the reason they created a new group (LeM) and started recruiting Indians on the pretext of arms smuggling. People were specially recruited from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu. They were told to smuggle arms in Jammu via Bihar, Punjab and Haryana.
Allah Maalik alias Hasnain, who was involved in the attack on the CRPF convoy, was heading the LeM. He was in direct contact with Maulana Masood Azhar.
The NIA on Saturday filed a supplimentary charge sheet against four operatives of Lashkar-e-Mustafa (LeM) -- Mohammed Arman Ali alias Arman Mansuri, Mohammed Ehsanullah alias Guddu Ansari, Imran Ahmad Hajam and Irfan Ahmad Dar -- for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to carry out the terrorist activities across the nation.
This supplementary charge sheet was filed before a special NIA court in Jammu and Kashmir under sections 120B, 121A & 122 of the IPC, Section 25 (1AA) of the Arms Act, Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act, and Sections 18 & 23 of the UA (P) Act.
A senior NIA official said that the case relates to hatching of conspiracy by the Operatives of Lashkar-e-Mustafa (LeM) at the behest of proscribed terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed to carry out the terrorist activities in the Jammu area with an intention to threaten the sovereignty, integrity and security of India.
The investigation of the NIA has revealed that these four accused had conspired, procured and transported weapons from Bihar to Jammu and Kashmir via Punjab and Haryana for Lashkar-e-Mustafa (LeM) terrorist group in order to carry out terror activities in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, especially in the Jammu region.
The official said that initially a case in this respect was registered at police station Gangyal, District Jammu. Later on the NIA took over the investigation and re-registered the case.
After conducting a thorough probe, the NIA filed a charge sheet in the case against six accused persons in August 2021. Later, they continued probing the matter and filed a supplementary charge sheet.
The NIA official said that further probe in the matter was on.