Police question media's “IC-814 hijacker” tale

New Delhi: Media claims that a Jammu and Kashmir resident held in Kishtwar earlier this week played a key role in the December,1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines jet to Kandahar are overblown, police and intelligence officials told The Hindu.
Mehrajuddin Dand, a resident of the north Kashmir town of Sopore, was held by the police on Monday. Family sources told The Hindu he returned to India last week, after spending several years in Pakistan and Nepal, following negotiations with local police officials. Hundreds of other former jihadists living in Pakistan have returned to the State in similar circumstances since 2006, mainly members of the largely ethnic-Kashmiri Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.
“In the course of Mr. Dand’s questioning,” a highly-placed official said, “we came to believe he may have information related to individuals connected to the hijacking. Those claims are being verified. He is not a suspect in the actual hijacking.”
14/09/12 Praveen Swami/The Hindu

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Categories: Air India Sep 2012, Foreign Sep 2012, Safety Sep 2012