The arrest of  Sandeep Kumar Sharma in the South Kashmir on Monday has baffled the security agencies as this was for the first time that a Hindu has been held for involvement in terrorist activities in the Valley.

His arrest came when the police busted a module of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) in the Valley where he was operating on a fake name — Adil. His another aide Muneed Shah was also arrested. He was arrested from the same house in the Brinty Dialgam village where the LeT commander and the mastermind behind the killing of six policemen, Bashir Lashkari, was eliminated earlier this month. He was arrested during the encounter in which dreaded terrorist Lashkari was eliminated. It created suspicion as the police was surprised to see a Hindu sitting in the same house where Lashkari was taking shelter, said the IGP, Kashmir, Muneer Khan.

Sandeep’s arrest also led to detention of another operative Muneeb Shah with whom he was staying in Kulgam.

Khan said, Sandeep was operating with the LeT commander Bashir Lashkari, who was allegedly involved in the killing of six policemen, including the SHO of Achabal Firoze Dar, and looting several banks and ATMs.

The IGP said that during interrogation Sandeep revealed that he belongs to Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh. Khan said that Sandeep Came to Kashmir in 2012 when he worked as a welder but later came in contact with LeT operative Shahid Ahmad while working at Patiala in Punjab. Thereafter, he came to Kashmir and planned loot of a bank ATM in Kulgam in South Kashmir. He was also involved in several robberies and looting incidents in South Kashmir.

The IGP accused Sandeep of also being involved in ambush of an army convoy at Lower Munda on the Jammu-Srinagar highway where two soldiers were killed and four wounded. He was earlier arrested in connection with a series of robberies in the Mir Bazar area of Anantnag but was later released on bail.

Over the years, Sandeep had become a dreaded terrorist and was also involved in snatching rifles of policemen. He used to provide shelter to terrorists and ferry them to different places for striking.