Pakistani JIT winds up India visit; welcomes NIA's decision to send team to country

New Delhi: A five-member Pakistani Joint Investigating Team (JIT), probing the Pathankot terror attack case, on Friday concluded its visit to India even as it welcomed a decision by India's National Investigating Agency (NIA) to send a team to Pakistan as part of their investigation in the case.

Although the dates are not yet finalised, the NIA has conveyed its willingness to visit Pakistan as part of its probe in the case.

The Pakistani team on Thursday examined 13 witnesses, including former Gurdaspur SP Salwinder Singh as part of their investigation.

The NIA has reportedly handed over some more documents, including DNA reports and call details of the four terrorists killed in the attack, to the JIT.

“NIA shared with Pak JIT the identity and address of four terrorists and requested that them to confirm the same,” DG NIA Sharad Kumar said.

“Pak JIT was requested to verify articles seized from terrorists including arms & ammunitions,” he added.

Documents like post-mortem report, call details of terrorists and their DNA reports along with arms and ammunition of Pakistan found during Pathankot attack were shared with Pakistan JIT, NIA said.

On the proposal for an NIA team's visit to Pakistan, the Joint Investigating Team (JIT) has welcomed it, saying mutually convenient dates will be worked out.

The Pakistani team was given a detailed presentation on the probe conducted so far and it was taken to the crime scene in Pathankot.

It has also been handed over some more documents which included DNA report of the four terrorists killed in the 80-hour gun battle with security forces.

The team, headed by Additional Inspector General of Police, Counter Terrorism Department, Muhammad Tahir Rai and including ISI's Lt Col Tanvir Ahmed, began their day by recording the statements of witnesses in the case.

The team arrived in India on March 27.

They recorded statements of 16 witnesses, including SP Salwinder Singh, his jeweller-friend Rajesh Verma and cook Madan Gopal.

The three were kidnapped by the Pathankot attack perpetrators belonging to the banned Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1.

The Pakistani JIT had asked NIA to hand over swabs of the four terrorists, identified as Nasir Hussain (Punjab province), Abu Bakar (Gujranwala) and Umar Farooq and Abdul Qayum (both from Sindh).

However, the probe agency handed over to the visitors the DNA report of the terrorists and asked them to match those with their family members.

Besides recording the statement of the three, the JIT also spoke to the caretaker of a shrine visited by Singh before he was kidnapped, policemen and residents who spotted the vehicle of the police officer after it was abandoned by the attackers.

Statements of doctors who conducted the post-mortem on the bodies were also recorded.