Suspected LeT terrorist Bahadur Ali's GPS device contained coordinates of terror launchpad

NIA on Friday filed a chargesheet against Pakistani national Bahadur Ali, suspected to be a member of Lashker-e-Taiba terror group, for allegedly planning to carry out subversive activities in India, including Delhi, at the behest of the banned outfit.

The chargesheet was filed before District Judge Amar Nath here as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had registered a case against Ali, who was arrested on July 24 last year from North Kashmir's border village Yahama.

The chargesheet has also highlighted the gaps along the Line of Control (LoC) as Ali, along with two other terrorists, had been walking for seven days undetected before they reached to their destination. The trio had entered India between the intervening night to June 12 and 13 last year and reached their destination only around June 20. The area is expected to be dotted by security personnel as part of counter-infiltration grid, official sources said.

According to the NIA chargesheet, investigation has established that Ali, who is a school dropout and originally a resident of Jia Bagga Village of Raiwind in Lahore, Pakistan, was also provided a map sheet depicting parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). He was provided with the grid references (GRs) that had been recovered from his possession. Ali plotted these GRs on the map sheet which was sent for examination to the Surveyor General of India at Dehradun which affirmed that the terrorist had plotted them correctly. "This clearly establishes that Ali is well conversant with the use of the map sheet and that he has received training in the subject. A GPS device was recovered from the possession of Ali at the time of his arrest.

"The data retrieved from the GPS device contained coordinates of the Mandakuli 'launching pad' of LeT. The pocket diary recovered from Ali, among other things, contains the name of several towns in J&K, like Rafiabad, Kunzar, Tangmarg, Budgam, Poonch, Jammu and Udhampur, besides Delhi. Given the fact that Ali is a trained cadre of LeT, the inclusion of the names of these towns or cities in the diary indicates that he was tasked to carry out terror attacks at several places, including in Delhi," the chargesheet said.

NIA also sought an opinion of General Examiner of Questioned Document (GEQD) who had said that his ability to plot GRs on the Google maps and on the topographic sheets after which the agency slapped the charge of waging war against the country on Ali, it said. 

NIA has slapped charges under Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Explosives Act, the Explosives Substances Act, Arms Act, the Foreigners Act and the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act. Ali has been been in judicial custody since August. A special court had on December 19 extended the judicial custody of Ali till January 18.

NIA alleged that Ali was part of the conspiracy hatched by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a proscribed terrorist organisation, based in Pakistan, to commit terror attacks in India.

It said that a thorough probe found that LeT has set up a well-organised machinery for the recruitment of vulnerable young men from different provinces of Pakistan as part of a conspiracy to wage war against the Government of India by committing terrorist acts in various parts of the country.

"Once recruited, these impressionable young men are put through various training regimes with the twin objectives of radicalising their world view and providing them with 'military' skills. Subsequent to their training, these trained cadres of LeT are illegally pushed into Indian Territory where they commit terrorist acts with the help of a network of their supporters and facilitators," the chargesheet said.

NIA said that as part of LeT's plan, Ali alias Saifullah Mansoor, along with his two associates Abu Saad and Abu Darda, all trained terrorists, infiltrated into Indian territory equipped with arms and ammunition, navigation equipment, combat material and other articles.

These terrorists entered Indian Territory with an intention to carry out terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and at different places of the country including Delhi, as per instructions given to them by their handlers of LeT based in Pakistan and PoK.

"After crossing the LoC fence, the three terrorists walked for about seven days following GRs with the aid of GPS devices, that had been provided to them by Abu Haider at the Mandakuli 'launching pad'," NIA said.

Abu Saad had sent a message to one of his handlers, 'Walid Bhai' by pairing his mobile phone with his wireless set, a communication technique especially designed by LeT to avoid interception, it said.

On June 22, the two left for getting some food from a village leaving Ali on a hill top. However, both were killed in an encounter and Ali shifted his base to another hillock "as a precautionary measure".

Next day Ali contacted 'Alfa-3', the LeT control station based in PoK, who directed him to continue his journey and reach the final destination where he met his local contact who provided him food and shelter, it said.

Ali, who had established a network around the area, was informed by his control room in PoK that the cadres of Lashkar had been successful in fuelling large-scale agitation in Kashmir after Eid and subsequent to the death of Burhan Wani in Kashmir, NIA said. He instructed Ali to mix with the protesters and throw grenades at the security forces in order to further fuel the agitation in the Kashmir Valley, the chargesheet said.