The accused have been identified as Jaffer Hussain, Tanveer Ahmed Malik and Taraq Hussain Giri

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a chargesheet against three Hizbul-Mujahideen (HM) terrorists before the NIA Special Court in Jammu. Out of the six accused, three terrorists were gunned down by security forces in an encounter, while three accused have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to revive militancy in J&K's Kishtwar.

The chargesheet against Jaffer Hussain of Hunjalla and Taraq Hussain Giri of Pochhal in Kishtwar and Tanveer Ahmad Malik of Tantna in Doda district was filed before a special court in Jammu, a spokesperson of the NIA said.

The charges will be abated against the other three terrorists involved in the conspiracy -- Osama Bin Javed alias Osama, Haroon Abbas Wani and Zahid Hussain alias Zahid -- who were killed in different encounters with security forces between 2019-2020.

"Hussain, Malik and Giri were providing logistics support and organising shelter for the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists involved in the multiple terrorist incidents,” news agency PTI quoted the NIA spokesperson as saying.

The case was initially registered by the Jammu and Kashmir Police in March 2019 at Kishtwar Police Station in connection with the snatching of a service weapon -- an AK-47 -- of the escort in-charge of DC Kishtwar. The NIA re-registered the case nearly eight months later, in November 2019.

The three accused provided logistical support and organised shelter

According to NIA sources, this looted weapon was used by the terrorists to kill RSS leader Chanderkant Sharma and his personal security officer inside a healthcare centre in April 2019. The NIA had filed a separate chargesheet in the case.

A year before Sharma's killing, the terrorists had killed the BJP state secretary Anil Parihar and his elder brother Ajit Parihar in Kishtwar.

NIA investigation has revealed that accused Jaffer Hussain, Tanveer Ahmed Malik and Taraq Hussain Giri were terrorists of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) in Doda-Kishtwar belt and were involved in many terror acts in Kishtwar. They provided logistical support and organised shelter to the Hizbul terrorists.

Sources said the Hizbul module was facing huge shortage of weapons and decided to loot them to target prominent leaders in the region.