A man from Jalna in Maharashtra who recently returned from Jammu and Kashmir said that one of the attackers in the Pahalgam terror killing had a conversation with him a day before the attack.
“Hindu ho kya. You don’t look like you are from Kashmir,” Adarsh Raut, recalling his interaction with a man at a food stall in the Baisaran Valley on April 21, told PTI.
Raut told PTI he had gone horse riding in Pahalgam on April 21 and had stopped at a “Maggi stall” for food when a man approached him and asked him if he was a Hindu. He also told Raut that he did not look like a Kashmiri. “The suspect then turned to his companion and said, ‘There’s less crowd today,” said Raut.
The Jalna resident said he found the conversation a bit odd, but didn’t put the entire situation together until the next day, when terrorists murdered 26 people.
“After I saw the sketches released by the NIA (National Investigation Agency), I connected the dots,” he said. Raut added he has emailed the NIA a detailed account of his experience in Kashmir.
“I have written everything I could remember. I have also mentioned that I could not initially pay the Maggi stall owner due to network issues. I took his phone number and paid him once I came down from the hill,” he said.
Raut said he has not received any response from the NIA. “I’ll cooperate with them in every possible way if they reach out to me,” he told PTI.
Since taking over the Pahalgam attack case from the Jammu and Kashmir Police, the National Investigation Agency has questioned a number of individuals, including family members of victims and tourists present at the attack scene, and pony riders; among others.
The agency took over the case five days later, and four days later a team from the agency visited the attack site and began assisting the J&K in investigating what many view as the deadliest assault on civilians in the region in almost two decades.
The NIA teams have been on-scene at Pahalgam terror attack site since April 23, and the teams have intensified searches for evidence.
The team, which is composed of an Inspector General, a Deputy Inspector General, and a Superintendent of Police, are investigating witnesses who saw the horrifying attack take place before their eyes at the peaceful and beautiful Baisaran valley.
