A 1,597-page NIA chargesheet in the April 22 Pahalgam militant attack filed before a special court in Jammu on Monday named the Lashkar-e-Toiba and six persons, including three slain militants, as accused and said the agency’s “meticulous scientific probe” had traced the conspiracy directly to Pakistan.
In a statement, the NIA said it charge-sheeted seven accused, including the “Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba/The Resistance Front terrorist organisation”. The TRF is believed to be a frontal organisation of the Lashkar.
“The chargesheet, which details Pakistan’s conspiracy, the roles of the accused, and supporting evidence in the case, has charged the banned LeT/TRF as a legal entity for its role in planning, facilitating, and executing the Pahalgam attack,” the statement said.
“The attack, which involved religion-based targeted killings by the Pak-sponsored terrorists, left 25 tourists and one local civilian dead.”
Among the six other accused are three militants — Faisal Jatt alias Suleman Shah, Habeeb Tahir alias Jibran, and Hamza Afghani, who reportedly carried out the attack. The three were killed after more than a three-month-long hunt in July in an operation named Mahadev at the Dachigam forests
in Srinagar.
“The LeT/TRF, as well as the four abovementioned terrorists, have been charged under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, the Arms Act, 1959, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967,” the statement said. “In its chargesheet, the NIA has also invoked the penal section against the accused for waging war against India.”
The NIA said that “through a meticulous scientific probe spanning the past almost 8 months”, it has traced “the conspiracy in the case RC-02/2025/NIA/JMU to Pakistan”, which has “been unabatedly sponsoring terrorism against India”.
Two locals figuring in the chargesheet are Parvaiz Ahmad and Bashir Ahmad Jothar, who were arrested by the agency on June 22 “for harbouring terrorists”. “During interrogation, the two men had disclosed the identities of the three-armed terrorists involved in the attack, and had also confirmed that they were Pakistani nationals affiliated to proscribed LeT terror outfit,” the statement said.
On April 22, 25 tourists and a local guide were killed at the Baisaran meadow
in Pahalgam.