Kumar Bahukhandi
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed (right) key accused in Pahalgam terror attack-Photo Credit -channel24india.com(File Photo )
The investigative agency mentioned about Pakistan-Backed Conspiracy in Supplementary Chargesheet
SRINAGAR: In a major development in the investigation into the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam terror attack, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday filed a supplementary chargesheet before the NIA Special Court in Jammu, naming Pakistan-based Jama’at-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed as a key accused in the case.
The chargesheet alleges that Saeed was a principal conspirator behind the attack that left 26 civilians dead, including 25 tourists and a local horse-handler, making it one of the deadliest terror strikes against civilians in Jammu and Kashmir in recent years.
According to the NIA, Saeed has been chargesheeted both in his individual capacity and as the head of the banned LeT and its proxy outfit, The Resistance Front (TRF), which has been linked to several terrorist incidents in J&K. The agency has accused him of masterminding a cross-border conspiracy aimed at waging war against India and directing terrorist operations through LeT and TRF networks.
Saeed is the founder and chief of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a group designated as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations and several countries. The United Nations Security Council listed Saeed on its sanctions list on December 10, 2008, for his association with LeT and Al-Qaeda-related activities.
The United States designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in May 2008 and later announced a reward for information leading to his prosecution.
The supplementary chargesheet has been filed under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967. The NIA has also invoked charges relating to waging war against the Government of India and criminal conspiracy allegedly hatched from across the border.
The latest filing forms part of the NIA’s ongoing investigation and supplements the original 1,597-page chargesheet submitted by the agency.
According to investigators, it contains detailed evidence relating to Pakistan’s alleged role in planning and facilitating the attack, Hafiz Saeed’s involvement in the conspiracy, and material gathered through forensic examination, scientific analysis, intelligence inputs, digital evidence, and extensive field investigations.
The terror attack occurred in the picturesque Baisaran meadow near Pahalgam in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, where terrorists allegedly carried out religion-based targeted killings of tourists.
The case was initially registered as FIR No. 25/2025 at Police Station Pahalgam before being taken over by the NIA on the directions of the Ministry of Home Affairs after preliminary investigations by the J&K Police revealed possible cross-border links and a larger terror conspiracy.
In its original chargesheet filed on December 15 last, the NIA had named Pakistani terror handler Sajid Jatt as an accused.
The agency also chargesheeted three terrorists who were subsequently killed by security forces during Operation Mahadev near Srinagar in July last year, besides two individuals who were arrested for their alleged involvement in the conspiracy. Importantly, the NIA also named LeT and TRF as accused entities, holding the two organisations responsible for planning, facilitating and executing the Pahalgam terror attack.
The NIA has maintained that investigations in case RC-02/2025/NIA/JMU are continuing and that efforts are underway to uncover the complete architecture of the conspiracy, identify all operatives and facilitators involved in the attack, trace the flow of instructions and support across the border, and establish the entire chain of command linking the perpetrators on the ground to Pakistan-based terrorist leadership.
Officials said the supplementary chargesheet against Hafiz Saeed represents the most significant development in the case so far, as investigators seek to legally establish the direct role of the LeT founder and UN-designated terrorist in the planning, direction and execution of the Pahalgam massacre that shocked the nation and drew international condemnation.
