Grenade-lobber held by locals, handed to Army

Srinagar, Nov 11: Ghulam Nabi, who allegedly threw a grenade at a religious congregation at Tahab in Pulwama district, leaving five people dead and 40 others, including prominent cleric Moulvi Abdul Rashid Dawoodi, injured, was apprehended by villagers who handed him over to the Army.

Nabi today admitted that he threw a hand grenade to kill Moulvi Dawoodi, a top Muslim cleric of south Kashmir, for just Rs 1000.

Presented before to reporters in an army camp in south Kashmir this afternoon, Nabi, a daily labourer, said that he was engaged by one Neka Mir to threw a hand grenade to kill Moulvi Dawoodi who was scheduled to address the Friday congregation in Jamia mosque at Tahab.

In reply to a question, he said Neka Mir was a civilian and was commissioned by militants, who were visiting the village regularly, to engage him for the task.

''I was given Rs 1000 by Mir for the job,'' he said but added the money was taken away by the villagers who caught him after hurling the grenade.

When asked why he agreed to hurl the grenade when he knew that it could cause large scale death and destruction, Ghulam Nabi said he was pressurised by Mir, but could not substantiate his claim.

He said that Mir, a resident of Chetri Bagh, said Moulvi Dawoodi had to be eliminated because he was not helping the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI).

He could not answer when he was asked why he was chosen for the job by Neka Mir and the militants.

''After I threw the grenade, I tried to run away but was caught by about 50 to 60 villagers who beat me up and wanted to kill me but I was saved by troops.

Meanwhile, police said that Ghulam Nabi had connections with militants and two of his relatives are active militants of Hizbul Mujahideen.

However, locals alleged that one of the relative of Ghulam Nabi was a surrendered militant working with some security force agency.

Yesterday, several residents of Tahab had claimed that they had caught one of the attackers.

A villager, who did not want to be named, told mediaperson at the Sri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital here where the wounded were being treated that they had caught hold of a grenade-thrower immediately after the attack, but did not hand him over to police.

''Yes, we did catch him. We did not hand him over to the police because we thought they might let him off,'' he added.

However, police then said no arrests had been made in connection with the grenade attack.

UNI

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