J-K fake surrender mastermind lands in police net

Two weeks after The Indian Express reported that 27 out of the 45 militants who had laid down their arms before the Army in Nagrota last mon...

Two weeks after The Indian Express reported that 27 out of the 45 militants who had laid down their arms before the Army in Nagrota last month were innocent villagers, the J&K Police said today that they have detained Nazir Ahmed Bhat, the civilian behind the elaborate deception.

‘‘He (Bhat) is with us… We are in the process of questioning him,’’ IGP Javaid Maqhdoomi told The Indian Express.

However, the circumstances surrounding Bhat’s detention remain unclear.

Bhat turned himself in to J&K Police today, said Ramesh Jall, SP, Budgam. But sources said that he was handed over by the Army’s 9 Para unit. They added that Bhat had sought refuge with the unit in Udhampur after the fake surrender—on November 9—was exposed by this newspaper.

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When contacted, R K Sen, PRO, Northern Command, said he had no information about the Army handing over Bhat to J&K Police.

A close relative of J-K Pradesh Congress Committee chief Peerzada Mohammad Sayed, Bhat took 27 villagers from Chrar-e-Sharief to New Delhi, promising them a meeting with Sonia Gandhi and government jobs.

But in Delhi, he handed them over to the Army which paraded them at its Nagrota camp before the media, calling them ‘‘hardened militants’’ who had given up their arms.

Bhat’s accomplices in the episode—Golu, a Congress activist, and Master Maqbool Malla—are already in police custody.

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Bhat, who was on the run since the fake surrenders were exposed, had earlier sought anticipatory bail from a Srinagar court.

Last week, police had raided his house in Jawahar Nagar and questioned his wife and a domestic help.