Punish my son if he is a militant, says LeT operative Sandeep Sharma's mother

MUZAFFARNAGAR: The mother of Sandeep Kumar Sharma, arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir Police for being an Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative, says her son should be punished he is a militant. Sharma's mother Parvati and sister-in-law Rekha were interrogated by a team of the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and released from custody late last night, police said. "If my son is a militant he must be punished. Due to his actions we are facing problems and shame," Parvati told reporters here after her release. Both Parvati and Rekha work as domestic workers in the district. Sharma, alias Adil, had left the district in 2012 and told his family that he was earning Rs 12,000 per month in Jammu. His father died in 2007 and his brother is a taxi driver in Haridwar, police said. Women police officers have been deployed at his residence and are keeping a close watch on the family. Sandeep Kumar Sharma was apprehended from Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district on Monday after Police busted a Lashkar-e-Taiba module. Sharma, a resident of Muzzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, moved to Kashmir in 2012 after he came in contact with a Kashmiri businessman in Patiala, sources in the valley said. For the last six months, he has been based in Kulgam district, obstensibly working as a welder, but actually looting ATMs. The 28-year-old man, who figured in militant chat groups as 'Adil', came close to the Lashker-e-Taiba terror group when he helped terrorists loot several ATMs in the valley. Soon Sharma had learnt how to offer 'Namaaz' at mosques and recite the 'Kalima', an oath of allegiance to the religion. But he did not convert to Islam, the sources said. From looting ATMs, he soon moved to joining terrorist operations, they said. He was a part of the terror group which carried out strikes at the Army at Lower Munda, which led to the death of a personnel, the killing of Achabal SHO Feroz Dar and of five other policemen. Sharma became close to Bashir Lashker, the Lashker terrorist who was killed recently, after he helped the terror group steal Rs 20 lakh from various ATMs in South Kashmir, the sources said.