Jammu, July 19 -- Over two and a half years on, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court of special judge Sandeep Gandotra here, has framed charges against two alleged terror operatives of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for harbouring terrorists that killed seven Hindus in Dhangri village of Rajouri district on January 1 and 2 in 2023. The two terroroperatives Nisar Ahmed, alias Haji Nisar and Mushtaq Hussain, alias Chacha, are presently lodged in high security Kot Bhalwal central jail on the outskirts of the temple city here. Seven civilians of Hindu community, two of them minors, a boy aged 4 and a girl aged 16, were killed in firing and IED blast triggered by two armed terrorists at Dhangri village in Rajouri district in January 2023. The terrorists had carriedout indiscriminate fire in the village on January 1 evening around 7.15 pm and had planted a timer fitted with an improvised explosive device (IED) before fleeing. The IED exploded the next morning and killed two minors besides injuring nine others. Following the attack, police had registered an FIR at Rajouri police station under sections 302, 307, 452, 323, 120-B of IPC; sections 7 & 27 of Arms Act and sections 13, 16 & 18 of UA (P) Act and sections 3 & 4 of Explosive Substances Act. However, in exercise of the powers conferred under sub-section (5) of section 6 and 8 of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008, the central government directed the NIA to take up investigation of the case. Accordingly, the case was re-registered by NIA at Jammu on January 13, 2023. The NIA, in its investigations, had established the involvement of proscribed terrorist organisation LeT. The court after hearing both the sides observed that the allegations against the two accused were "Very serious and there was sufficient material on record to show prima facie that accused in furtherance of criminal conspiracy, not only harboured the terrorists and gave them food and shelter but they also acted as guides and helped the terrorists reaching their hideout safely after the attack." "They (two alleged terror operatives) were in constant touch with terrorists for approximately three months and did not tell anybody about them despite getting several opportunities. They (accused) also utilised the services of a minor for their illegal activities," the NIA judge observed further. "On taking the material on its face value, this court is of the opinion that there is a prima facie case against the accused persons, charges have to be framed against them," he observed. The judge said that the statements on record were taken at their face value and their truth or veracity has not to be judged at the charge stage. "Even a strong suspicion found on material before the court is sufficient to frame the charge," he added. The judge further observed that:"The net result of what has been discussed herein above is that if the broad probabilities of the case and the total effect of the evidence collected by the CIO and the documents produced before the court were to be taken into consideration, prima-facie there was sufficient material against the two accused to charge them for the commission of offences in this case. The evidence collected and relied upon by the CIO was in accordance with law and corroborative material was also available on the record. Accordingly, accused Nisar Ahmed was charged for the commission of offences under sections 120-B & 201 of IPC, 18, 19, 20, 38 and 39 of UAPA and 83 of Juvenile Justice Act. Accused Mushtaq Hussain was charged for the commission of offences under sections 120-B of IPC, 18, 19 and 39 of UAP Act and section 83 of Juvenile Justice Act. However, when asked by the court, both the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. In September 2023, the duo was arrested by the NIA for allegedly harbouring the LeT terrorists for nearly three months. The accused had provided logistics support to the terrorists and sheltered them in a hideout, which was constructed bythe arrested on the directions of Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) handlers Saifullah, alias Sajid Jutt, Abu Qatal, aliasQatal Sindhi, and Muhammad Qasim....