Youth held for throwing grenade at PDP rally

He was later handed over to the Army and then to the police.

Police identified the detained youth as Naushad Ahmad Ganai, a resident of Augam village in Kulgam. “People caught hold of a youth who lobbied a grenade at a rally in Dumhal area of Kulgam district,” police spokesman Manoj Kumar Pandita said. “During investigations, it was found that he (Naushad) was involved in the killing of a treasury officer in 2005. His brother Mohamamd Rafeeq, a militant, was killed in an encounter in 2005.”

Kulgam SP Mumtaz Ahmad, however, said they don’t have much information about the youth. Asked whether he belonged to any militant outfit, Mumtaz said: “Nothing is clear yet.”

The PDP candidate whose rally was targeted blamed his political opponents for the attack. “Thank god the grenade fell in the mud and didn’t explode,” Padder told The Indian Express. “It is hundred percent a political attack.

Militants are not involved.”