Srinagar, Aug 13 (IANS) After 35 years, the Government Railway Police (GRP) Jammu said on Thursday that it has arrested the 1991 bomb blast accused from Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district, officials said.
Officials added that the Railway Police Jammu have arrested the 1991 bomb blast accused from the Anantnag district, who had been absconding for 35 years.
The arrested person has been identified as Altaf Hussain Sheikh, the son of Nazir Ahmed Sheikh and a resident of Marhama-Bijbehara in Anantnag.
He was booked under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act.
He was involved in a blast that took place on April 2, 1991, at Platform number 1 of the Jammu Railway Station.
The explosion killed three persons, including two paramilitary personnel, and injured 18 civilians, officials said.
An FIR under Sections 307, 302, 120(B) of the Ranbir Penal Code, Section 3/4 of Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) and Section 4/5 of the Explosive Substances Act was registered at the GRP Jammu Police Station in connection with the case.
During the investigation, one accused Aman Ullah Khan was arrested. Three others managed to escape and were later declared absconders by the court.
Police said that in the last two years, GRP Jammu launched an intensive manhunt.
The team traced Altaf Hussain Sheikh, verified his identity and found that he had been living under a concealed identity for decades.
He had reportedly established himself as a businessman in the Bijbehara area.
Following the long pursuit, the accused was arrested and produced before the TADA Court on Thursday for further legal proceedings.
Officials said the arrest was made possible due to sustained efforts to track down absconders involved in militancy-related cases.
Many terror cases, including the 1990 killing of Kashmiri Pandit Sarwanand Koul Premi, who was a Kashmiri poet, journalist, research scholar, Gandhian, social reformer and independence activist and his young married son, Verinder, have been reopened, investigated and killers identified.
The terror killing cases reopened after 35 years and being investigated also include the 1990 kidnap, rape and killing of nurse Sarla Bhat in Srinagar city.
–IANS
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