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Rediff.com  » News » Akshardham conspiracy hatched in J&K minister's house: Report

Akshardham conspiracy hatched in J&K minister's house: Report

Source: PTI
September 10, 2003 16:17 IST
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The conspiracy for carrying out the Akshardham temple attack was hatched in the house of Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Food and Shelter Abdul Aziz Zargar, a report submitted by security agencies has claimed.

The report, according to PTI, is based on the confessions of an alleged accomplice in the attack and the diary of a Pakistani militant. 32 people were killed in the attack.

The report said Khan had claimed during interrogation that all the planning was done at the residence of Zargar and the two suicide attackers of Lashkar-e-Tayiba, along with him, had started their journey for Gujarat from Zargar's residence.

The residence of Zargar, who was elected from Noorabad assembly seat in Kulgam Tehsil, is located at Manzgam near Shopian in south Kashmir. The minister has denied any knowledge about the planning being done at his native village and has also made it clear that he had left his house long time back.

State police has also denied any link between Zargar and LeT militants but said that militants used to frequent the village of the minister.

The report also cites a request from the minister after winning the elections in which he had asked the police to remove the guard at his residence. The request was, however, cancelled after militants gunned down a PDP legislator Abdul Aziz Mir in Pampore.

The report also quoted notings from a diary of a Pakistani militant Zahoor Manzoor Chowdhury in which specific dates were given when militants were holding meetings at the residence of Zargar.

Incidentally, it was the diary of Manzoor that led the security agencies to arrest Khan, who corroborated the diary records.

The state police, which was developing leads on the temple case provided by Intelligence Bureau, zeroed in on Chand Khan, who hails from UP and runs an automobile repairing shop in the valley.

Khan told interrogators that he had taken the two LeT militants from Srinagar to Bareilly from where they boarded a train to Jaipur and later a bus to Ahmedabad.

Khan said the two terrorists, who were killed by NSG commandoes, had also planned to carry out an attack at the Gaurav Yatra being taken out by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Khan has also denied any role of five persons arrested by Gujarat Police on August 30 and told the interrogators that there was no local support in the temple attack, the report said.

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