J&K Police Arrests Two Persons Responsible For Sunday Grenade Attack

Srinagar Grenade Blast: The first accused identified as Mohd Bariq was arrested from Khanyar and his initial examination prompted the arrest of the subsequent accused, Fazil Nabi Sofi.

Paramilitary trooper in Jammu (File photo: getty)

New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir police on Tuesday arrested two persons in connection with Sunday's grenade blast in Srinagar that killed two civilians and injured 36 others, said officials as reported by news agency PTI.

The first accused identified as Mohd Bariq was arrested from Khanyar and his initial examination prompted the arrest of the subsequent accused, Fazil Nabi Sofi.

JK police arrests two persons in connection with Sunday's grenade blast in Srinagar that killed two civilians and injured 36 others:Officials

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 8, 2022

The bike utilized in this grenade attack was likewise seized by the Special Investigation Team which had been framed following the terror strike.

During its probe, the team utilized modern means of investigation and used technical evidence like minute frame by frame investigation of the CCTV recordings of the scene of the crime, recordings of CCTVs in the entire of Srinagar city, Cell Tower dump analysis, IP dump analysis, a recreation of crime location and by assessment of some eyewitnesses, authorities said.

In view of these, the SIT had the option to distinguish the two blamed who came on a bike without a number plate to perpetuate the wrongdoing and escaped on the same vehicle after committing the terrorist act.

During the intense examination of the CCTV trail in Srinagar city, the route adopted by both the accused was located back to the Khanyar region of the midtown.

It further came out that these two charged had committed the terrorist act on the directions of active terrorists in the Kashmir valley, they said.

The plan was to carry an attack on parked security vehicle but the target was missed as the grenade was thrown from a moving two-wheeler and the grenade exploded in an adjacent crowded area where many roadside vendors and buyers were present.

It was also found that this particular area was chosen due to the omnipresent chaos and turbulent traffic in this stretch of the area due to unorganised vendors and stalls on the road, the officials said.

There have been two other recent grenade attacks in this area -- the first one on August 10, 2021, and the second on January 25, 2022.

This act of grenade throwing created terror, panic and anguish among the masses in the whole of Srinagar city.

Jammu and Kashmir police also requested all commercial establishments and shops to install CCTV cameras inside and outside of their establishments, according to the advisory issued by Deputy Commissioner Srinagar.

This will act as a strong deterrence to all the anti-social elements.

The incident took place on March 6 when a grenade explosion took place near Amira kadal bridge, in the heart of the city at about 4:20 PM leaving 38 people injured.

Later, two of the injured among the civilians succumbed -- 79-year-old Mohammed Aslam Makhdoomi and 19-year-old Rafia Nazir, who had secured 94 per cent marks in Class 12 exams.

(With PTI inputs)