‘You don't look like you are from Kashmir?’: Maharashtra man recalls encounter with Pahalgam terror suspect day before attack

NEW DELHI: A young man from Jalna, Maharashtra has reported that he interacted with one of the suspected terrorists a day before the deadly attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, that killed 26 people on April 22. Adarsh Raut identified one of the attackers from sketches released by security agencies after the incident.
Raut encountered the suspect at a food stall in Baisaran Valley on April 21, where the man approached him with queries about his identity.

"Hindu ho kya. You don't look like you are from Kashmir," Raut recalled the man saying during their interaction at the Maggi stall.
According to Raut, after he stopped for food during his horse riding excursion, the suspect made this comment and then turned to his companion saying, "There's less crowd today."

The conversation left Raut uneasy, but its significance only became clear the next day when terrorists killed over two dozen tourists in the same area.
"After I saw the sketches released by the NIA (National Investigation Agency), I connected the dots," he stated.
Raut has sent a detailed account of his experience to the NIA via email, including specific details about his interaction at the food stall.
"I have written everything I could remember. I have also mentioned that I could not initially pay the Maggi stall owner due to network issues. I took his phone number and paid him once I came down from the hill," he explained.
The terror attack resulted in 26 casualties, primarily tourists, and left several others injured when terrorists opened fire at a meadow near the tourist town of Pahalgam in south Kashmir's Anantnag district.
Following the massacre, security agencies released sketches of three suspected attackers, one of whom Raut claims to have met.
Raut is yet to receive any response from the NIA regarding his email. "I'll cooperate with them in every possible way if they reach out to me," he added.