From TRF handler to Telegram trail, NIA charge sheet ties Pahalgam attack to Pakistan

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has cited Sajit Jatt’s role in the plot and the location of associated Telegram accounts to link the Pahalgam attack to Pakistan.

In the 1,597-page charge sheet, the NIA said the Pahalgam attack was planned, directed, and controlled from Pakistan. It accused The Resistance Front (TRF), a front of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), of planning and executing the attack.

The NIA named Jatt as the architect of the attack. It said he guided the three terrorists —Faisal Jatt alias Suleman Shah, Habeeb Tahir alias Jibran, and Abu Hamza— and arranged logistics for the attack.

The charge sheet said Jatt coordinated terrorist movement, set targets, arranged drops inside Jammu and Kashmir using drones, and supplied weapons and Pakistan-origin phones to the terrorists, according to CNN-News18.

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The NIA said the hierarchical command structure, cross-border encrypted coordination, weapons logistics, and handler-driven tasking leave no doubt the attack was a Pakistan-sponsored terrorist operation executed by LeT/TRF.

The NIA also said the terrorists involved in the attack received bomb-making guidance from a pro-TRF Telegram channel.

On April 22, 2025, three terrorists attacked a tourist spot in Baisaran Valley in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. They singled out non-Muslims to kill them. In addition to the three terrorists, the NIA has charged two locals —Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar and Bashir Ahmad Jothar— for being LeT overground workers (OGWs) and sheltering and supporting the terrorists. Twenty-six people were killed in the Pahalgam attack.

How NIA tied Telegram to Pakistan

The NIA said it traced multiple Telegram accounts linked to the Pahalgam attack to Pakistan.

As per information received from Telegram, ‘TheResistanceFront Official’ channel on the platform was being managed by the account @ShaalashaskaOcelot, using the Pakistani mobile number +92-329-5446118 from Rawalpindi, Punjab, according to the NIA.

The NIA also said TRF initially claimed responsibility for the attack and later denied it through social media accounts based in Pakistan.

The NIA further linked a Telegram bot spreading updates and propaganda on behalf of TRF to Pakistan.

Previously, Union home minister Amit Shah told the parliament that security forces had recovered Pakistani voter IDs of two of the three terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack after killing them. He said they also recovered chocolates and weapons made in Pakistan.

Security forces killed three men on July 28, 2025, near Srinagar. Shah later told the parliament they were the perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack.

"While Suleman was an A-category commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Afghani was also an A-category Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, and Jibran was also a notorious and wanted terrorist. All three terrorists involved in the killing of our citizens at Baisaran valley in Pahalgam have now been eliminated," said Shah at the time.