NIA visits Pahalgam carnage victim’s Kolkata home for watertight case

KOLKATA: An NIA team, which is investigating the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives, visited the Behala Sakherbazar residence of the slain senior statistical officer, Samir Guha, to record the statements of his wife Sabari and daughter Subhangi (17).
The NIA team arrived a little after noon and left almost five hours later. The mother-daughter duo, survivors of the attack, were asked by two NIA officers to recall the events of April 22.


Sources stated that NIA got in touch with Lalbazar over some issue later in the evening but did not disclose the reason for the same. The NIA officers are likely to meet Soheni Adhikary, the wife of techie Bitan Adhikary, and Jaya and Samriddh (12) – the wife and son of IB officer Manish Ranjan Mishra — in the next few days. Both Adhikary and Mishra, hailing from Kolkata and Jhalda, respectively, lost their lives in the same terror attack.
NIA sources said they were particularly interested in knowing about the circumstances under which they came face to face with the terrorists and the conversation that took place between them. The team was also interested in checking some of the photographs clicked by the Guha family before the attack. Sources said the NIA agents inquired if the assailants mentioned any organisation before shooting, and how they made their appearance at the scene.
"We recorded the statements of the family members of Guha and filed a report. We will also visit Adhikary's house and talk to his wife to take a detailed note of the attack," an NIA official confirmed in Delhi.
Samir's wife Sabari earlier told the media that they were taking photos shortly before the attack. They were sitting in chairs and eating when they heard gunshots. Before they could comprehend the situation, the militants appeared in front of them.
She recounted that upon hearing the gunshots, Samir instructed them to lie on the ground. They attempted to escape but had no time. By then, the militants, wearing masks, approached them and started shooting, saying: "Don't spare them." Samir fell to the ground instantly. It was their local pony operator and driver who guided the mother-daughter duo back to safety.
Special teams have started reaching out to witnesses, including tourists who survived the deadly attack by the terrorists in Pahalgam, NIA officials said on Friday. The first visit on Friday evening was at the residence of Santosh Jagdale, a Pune resident and one of the 26 victims killed in the attack.