Pak JIT records statements of ex-Gurdaspur SP, 16 others

Pathankot attack

JIT handed over more documents, including DNA reports
and call details of four terrorists killed in attack;
Masood Azhar’s link to attack yet to be found

NEW DELHI: The Pakistani Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the Pathankot airbase terrorist attack on Thursday recorded the statements of 16 witnesses, including former Gurdaspur Superintendent of Police (SP) Salwinder Singh.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) handed over some more documents, including the DNA reports and call details of the four terrorists killed in the attack, to the JIT.

“Documents like the post-mortem report, call details of terrorists and their DNA reports along with the arms and ammunition of Pakistan found during the Pathankot attack were shared with the Pakistan JIT,” an NIA official told ANI.

“The witnesses, including a Superintendent of Police rank officer of Punjab Salwinder Singh, his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma and cook Madan Gopal were examined by the JIT,” the official added.

The Pakistani team, which was taken to various spots in Pathankot on Wednesday, including the ‘crime scene’ inside the air base, had sought permission for recording the statements of witnesses including Punjab Police officer Salvinder Singh, his friend, cook Madan Gopal, caretaker of a shrine the officer had visited in the run-up to the attack, and officers who had carried out investigations earlier and prepared the seizure memo.

The NIA has handed over to the JIT statements of witnesses including doctors who conducted the postmortem, call records of SP Salwinder Singh and his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma, whose phones had been snatched by terrorists and allegedly used by them to speak to their contacts in Pakistan, serial number of weapons seized, besides forensic and ballistic reports. The JIT is scheduled to return on April 2.

Meanwhile, the JIT probing the Pathankot airbase attack told the Indian interlocutors that it was yet to find evidence to link Maulana Masood Azhar to the terror outrage, The Hindu reported.

The Indian investigators had asked the JIT for the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief’s voice samples indicating he was the prime suspect in the January 2 armed attack at the Indian Air Force base.

According to The Hindu, the JIT was still verifying whether the JeM founder had any role in the storming of the base. The paper quoted an unnamed senior security establishment official for the claim.

India has in the past said Masood Azhar and his brother Abdul Asghar Rauf were directly linked to the attack, which was planned at the JeM headquarters in Bahawalpur.