SRINAGAR: A damaged Android phone charger recovered from the site of a July counter-terror operation has led the Jammu and Kashmir Police to a major breakthrough in the investigation of the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists.
According to reports appearing in multiple media outlets, the police have arrested 26-year-old Mohammad Yousuf Katari, an Over Ground Worker (OGW), accused of providing critical logistical support to the three terrorists behind the attack — Sulieman alias Asif, Jibran, and Hamza Afghani. Officials have said that Katari’s arrest came after weeks of forensic and field investigation following Operation Mahadev, a major counter-terror action launched in July in the foothills of the Zabarwan Range on Srinagar’s outskirts.
The three militants, including Asif, identified as the mastermind of the Pahalgam attack, and Jibran, linked to the October 2024 Sonamarg Tunnel assault, were killed during that operation on July 29.
As reported by news agencies, investigators discovered a partially destroyed Android charger at the Operation Mahadev site. Police forensic experts analysed the remnants and began tracing its origin, a process that would eventually uncover Katari’s role.
The trail led the Srinagar police to a local electronics dealer, who confirmed that the charger had been part of a phone sold earlier to another customer. That information, officials said, helped pinpoint Katari’s link to the network supporting the Pahalgam attackers.
“Katari’s arrest was the culmination of weeks of painstaking work that combined technical forensics with traditional field investigation,” an official familiar with the probe told a local daily.
During his interrogation, Katari reportedly confessed that he had met the three outlaws on four occasions in the Zabarwan hills, an area of dense forest and rugged terrain outside Srinagar city. According to officials cited in the reports, Katari admitted to handing over the charger to the militants and guiding them through the region’s higher reaches, where he was known to teach nomadic children.
Investigators believe Katari’s knowledge of local topography and discreet movement patterns in these hilly areas made him a valuable link in the terror chain. “He wasn’t merely a courier, his role appears to have extended to navigation and logistics,” one source was quoted as saying.
Operation Mahadev, carried out in July, was one of the most significant counter-terror actions this year, aimed at eliminating the cell responsible for the Pahalgam massacre. The April 22 attack, which left 26 people dead — including several tourists and local residents — had drawn widespread outrage and led to a multi-agency investigation involving the police, Army, and intelligence agencies.
Following the July encounter, the recovery of personal items and electronic components from the site offered investigators their first tangible forensic leads. “Among several items recovered, the charger turned out to be the silent witness that helped connect the dots,” officials told agencies.
The slain trio were part of a group believed to be operating with external links across the Line of Control (LoC). Intelligence agencies had long suspected that their movements were aided by a network of ground operatives within the Valley.
Officials told reporters that Katari’s arrest represents a major step in dismantling the local support infrastructure for cross-border subversive groups. They said the case could soon be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is already probing the larger conspiracy behind the Pahalgam attack.
The NIA has so far arrested two people in connection with the case for allegedly providing shelter and logistics to the terrorists. Katari is expected to be questioned jointly by police and NIA teams to ascertain whether he had links to any handlers or intermediaries across the border.
While officials declined to disclose further operational details, citing the ongoing investigation, they confirmed that the security agencies are now focusing on mapping the wider OGW network active in the Zabarwan region and adjoining areas of Anantnag district.
Katari, described by police sources as a soft-spoken man who spent time teaching children of nomadic families in the upper reaches, had managed to evade suspicion for months. Investigators believe his role in the network was carefully masked under the guise of community work.
“He knew the terrain better than anyone and blended easily among the shepherding communities,” one officer was quoted saying. “That made him useful to those who needed silent movement and local cover.”
The Jammu and Kashmir Police are now examining whether Katari acted alone or as part of a cluster of local facilitators who had aided multiple terror modules operating across central Kashmir.
As the investigation deepens, officials have hinted that digital evidence recovered from devices seized during Katari’s arrest could shed further light on communication channels between local OGWs and their cross-border handlers.
The police said the arrest marks one of the most critical breakthroughs since the April 22 attack and demonstrates how a single piece of damaged evidence — a phone charger — can unravel an entire network.
