New Delhi: In July 2010, Javaid Ahmad Matoo, a third-year Bachelor of Arts student at Government Degree College in Kashmir, went missing from his house in Mohalla Khushalmatoo, Sopore.
When he resurfaced a few months later, he was an accused in a grenade attack executed by the Hizbul Mujahideen in the Valley.
Sources in the security establishment told ThePrint that between 2010 and 2012, Matoo — allegedly inducted into the ranks of the Hizbul Mujahideen as an overground worker by commander Qayoom Nazar — quickly rose to the ranks of a commander himself, executing multiple grenade attacks and assaults on security forces during this period.
However, in 2012, during an alleged attack on two police security officers (PSOs) in Sopore on 6 January, he was said to have sustained bullet injuries, leading to his subsequent inactivity and retreat.
The sources added that though Matoo’s name did not figure in any incident after January 2012, as he kept a low profile while being underground, he remained on the “most wanted list” as an A++ category terrorist. The classification ‘A++’ is used to refer to a terrorist who is on the “most wanted list” of security forces.
Delhi Police Special Cell Thursday arrested Matoo from the Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) flyway, marking the conclusion of a 13-year chase.
Matoo was found travelling on the DND in a stolen vehicle and a pistol was recovered from him at the time of the arrest, police said.
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‘Exfiltrated to PoK after the Sopore incident’
Born in 1984, Matoo belongs to a middle-class family and completed his class X at Government High School Sopore. He then completed his class XII from Government Higher Secondary School, Sopore, and got admission to Government Degree College for BA, said sources in the security establishment.
A police dossier on Matoo, seen by ThePrint, mentions that after 2012, Matoo was “exfiltrated to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir” and “joined the ranks of Al-Badr” — an Islamist militant group operating in the Kashmir region.
According to a source in the security establishment, Matoo is the oldest surviving militant alive on the “most wanted list”.
“Most of the Hizbul commanders who were operating in 2010 and 2011 have been either killed in encounters or pushed back. But he had been lying low since the 6 January 2012 incident, where he was injured and never resurfaced after that,” the source said.
Speaking to ThePrint, a senior officer from Kashmir recalled the Sopore incident in which Matoo is said to have been injured.
“On 6 January 2012, Matoo attacked two PSOs in Sopore in the escort of then Superintendent of Police in Sopore, Imtiyaz Hussain. The PSOs were badly hit and sustained grievous injuries. In that attack, Matoo also sustained severe bullet injuries in retaliatory firing, though he managed to escape,” the officer said.
“We know that he was also suffering from a kidney ailment and undergoing treatment and then went to PoK to join Al-Badr,” the officer added.
According to police, Matoo carried a reward of Rs 10 lakh to his name announced by the Jammu and Kashmir Police and was involved in at least 11 acts of terror.
The cases in which he is a key suspect include — five grenade attacks in Sopore in 2010 that injured dozens of police personnel. The same year, he was also accused of being involved in the killings of five police personnel and a J&K Police CID constable.
Between 2010 and 2012, Matoo’s role is also suspected in the killings of two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans, another police personnel, an IED blast outside a police station and a grenade attack outside a BSNL office in Sopore.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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