NIA charges LeT chief Hafiz Saeed with plotting Pahalgam terror strike
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a supplementary chargesheet before the NIA Special Court in Jammu in the Pahalgam terror attack case, naming the Pakistan-based founder and chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as an accused.
The chief has been charged both in his individual capacity and as head of LeT and its active proxy outfit, The Resistance Front (TRF).
The supplementary chargesheet builds on NIA's original 1,597-page chargesheet, detailing the cross-border conspiracy and the accused's role based on digital evidence and on-ground investigation.
Charges have been framed under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967, including provisions relating to waging war against India and cross-border conspiracy; the accused will face trial in absentia.
The Pahalgam attack of April 22, 2025, killed 25 tourists and one local resident in a religion-targeted killing in Jammu & Kashmir.
National Investigation Agency (NIA) — Statutory Basis and Jurisdiction
The NIA is India's premier counterterrorism investigation agency, created under the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008, in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. It functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs and, unlike state police, has nationwide (and since 2019, extraterritorial) jurisdiction to investigate scheduled offences — including terrorism, terror financing, and offences against India's sovereignty — without requiring prior state government consent.
Key Details
- NIA Act received Presidential assent: December 31, 2008; agency constituted: January 20, 2009
- The Act's Schedule lists offences (including UAPA offences) that fall within NIA's jurisdiction
- NIA (Amendment) Act, 2019 empowered the NIA Director General to attach or seize properties representing proceeds of terrorism and extended jurisdiction to scheduled offences committed outside India, subject to international treaty obligations
- Prosecution of UAPA offences requires prior sanction of the Central Government
The supplementary chargesheet against a Pakistan-based accused draws on NIA's cross-border investigative mandate — a feature that distinguishes it from ordinary state police agencies, which cannot pursue extraterritorial cross-border conspiracy charges.
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 — Organisational and Individual Terrorist Designation
UAPA is India's principal anti-terrorism statute, enacted in 1967 and substantially strengthened by amendments in 2004, 2008, and 2019. Section 15 defines a "terrorist act" as any act intended to threaten India's unity, integrity, security, or sovereignty, or to strike terror among people through explosives, weapons, or other lethal means. The 2019 amendment added Section 35, empowering the Central Government to designate individuals — not merely organisations — as terrorists, listed in the Fourth Schedule, without requiring a prior criminal conviction.
Key Details
- Section 2(o): defines "unlawful activity"; Section 15: defines "terrorist act"
- Section 35 (introduced by the UAPA Amendment Act, 2019): individual terrorist designation power; Fourth Schedule lists designated individuals
- Organisations may be banned as "unlawful associations"; a Tribunal reviews such bans
- Both LeT and TRF are designated banned terrorist organisations under UAPA
Charging both an individual and the organisations he heads (LeT and TRF) as accused illustrates UAPA's dual framework for organisational and individual liability in a single case.
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and Trial in Absentia
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 replaced the Indian Penal Code, 1860, coming into force on July 1, 2024. It retains core offences such as "waging war against the Government of India," invoked here alongside UAPA's cross-border conspiracy provisions. Because the accused is based abroad and outside India's jurisdictional reach, prosecution can proceed through a trial in absentia — permitted under India's amended criminal procedure framework for cases where the accused deliberately evades appearance.
Key Details
- BNS in force since: July 1, 2024; replaced IPC, 1860
- BNS also replaced the CrPC with the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, which contains provisions enabling trial in absentia for absconding accused (declared "proclaimed offenders")
- Waging war against India remains a capital offence under the new framework, as it was under the IPC
Trial in absentia allows Indian courts to formally adjudicate accountability for cross-border terrorism even when the accused, sheltered abroad, cannot be produced before the court.
Lashkar-e-Taiba and The Resistance Front — Proxy Structures in Cross-Border Terrorism
Lashkar-e-Taiba is a Pakistan-based jihadist organisation formed in the 1980s, designated a terrorist organisation by India, the United States, and the United Nations. The Resistance Front (TRF) emerged around 2019, assessed by Indian security agencies as a LeT proxy created to claim attacks in Jammu & Kashmir while allowing the parent organisation to maintain deniability.
Key Details
- LeT listed by the UN Security Council under Resolution 1267/1526 sanctions regime: May 2, 2005
- LeT's founder was individually listed by the UN Security Council: December 10, 2008
- TRF is treated by Indian agencies as LeT's shadow/proxy arm operating post-2019 in J&K
Naming both the parent organisation and its proxy as co-accused in the same chargesheet reflects an evidentiary strategy to establish the proxy structure as an extension of LeT's cross-border terror network, relevant to India's international counterterrorism diplomacy.
- Pahalgam attack: April 22, 2025; 25 tourists and 1 local resident killed
- Original NIA chargesheet: 1,597 pages
- Supplementary chargesheet naming LeT chief: filed July 6, 2026, before the NIA Special Court, Jammu
- NIA established: January 20, 2009, under the NIA Act, 2008
- UAPA enacted: 1967; key amendments: 2004, 2008, 2019
- Individual terrorist designation power: UAPA Amendment Act, 2019 (Section 35, Fourth Schedule)
- LeT UN Security Council listing: May 2, 2005
- BNS in force: July 1, 2024 (replaced IPC, 1860)