NIA asks MEA for consular access to LeT's Bahadur Ali

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has asked the External Affairs Ministry to provide consular access to arrested Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Bahadur Ali, an official said on Thursday.

This comes following Ali's request to the anti-terror agency to meet his family members who live in Lahore. He is the eighth of the nine wards of his parents. His father had worked in the police department in Pakistan's Punjab province.

NIA sources said Ali, arrested on July 25 from Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir, is not a 'fidayeen'.

The official said Ali had thrice attempted to throw grenades on the army and police in Handwara in Kupwara but failed every time.

He said a part of the Rs 23,000 seized from Ali was counterfeit.

Ali told his interrogators that a video recording of the infiltration routes he took along with two other LeT operatives Saad and Darda was made while they crossed over to the Indian side on June 11-12.

Armed with his confessional statement, the NIA on Wednesday blamed the banned LeT for fuelling the continuing unrest in Kashmir.

The NIA said it is gathering further evidence regarding the role of LeT in the Valley's violence in the last 34 days.

--IANS

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