At a time when Jammu and Kashmir Police is still groping in the dark and yet to make breakthrough about the real identity of those behind issuing online threats to Kashmiri Pandit employees, engaged under the Prime Minister’s package, a community activist has been arrested for fabricating and over-amplifying the threat posters on social media, allegedly driven by personal and professional rivalry.
According to J&K police, Rakesh Handoo was arrested on October 17 from his residence in Faridabad, Haryana based on a complaint filed by Rohit Raina, himself a PM Package employee posted in the North Kashmir district of Baramulla. A police team led by PSI Rameshwar Sudan from Baramulla arrested Handoo under Section 66F (cyber terrorism) and Section 84C of the Information Technology Act.
According to J&K police, “A publicly accessible Twitter account repeatedly circulated threat-related electronic material purporting to originate from Soldiers of Resistance/United Liberation Council, which, in its original form, was sent to another person bearing a similar name, to deliberately alter and commission the electronic material”.
An FIR no 151/2026 was registered in Baramulla on 21 September, following which Handoo was summoned for questioning on 26 September. The police say that Handoo didn’t show up despite several notices.
“The accused failed to join the investigation despite three notices under Section 35(3) of BNSS”, police officials claimed.
Meanwhile, the arrest has stunned members of the Kashmiri Pandit community. Handoo had contested Assembly elections from Srinagar’s Hazratbal constituency against National Conference President Farooq Abdullah in 2008.
Speaking to The Pioneer, a Kashmiri Pandit PM package employee serving in the Kashmir valley said it looks like a clear case of rivalry. “Rakesh Handoo remains very vocal on matters of the Kashmiri Pandit community. He has been very active on social media and is often seen raising issues of fixing accountability. He even poses tough questions to the ruling dispensation and tags his social media posts to ruling party leaders/ ministers and social activists active in the field to create buzz. In this case also when a Lashkar-e- Taiba (LeT) linked terrorist outfit issued a threatening letter warning of attacks on these employees he launched a sustained campaign through his handles on social media platforms. While doing so, he has hurt the sentiments of a few, and this complaint and FIR is a result of that rivalry,” he said.
Another Kashmiri Pandit employee, who is acting as a bridge and extending all possible legal aid to Handoo told The Pioneer, “We are confident Handoo will come out of it and nothing will be found against him and he will be released soon.”
Sharing the current update, a Kashmiri Pandit employee said Handoo was remanded to five more days of police custody on Tuesday.
A senior police officer linked with the investigation in the matter said offences have been found prima facie established during preliminary investigation. FSL and technical analysis reports are awaited. Further investigation is underway,” said a senior police official.
The police teams are further investigating whether Handoo authored, altered or circulated the terror material online. Several Kashmiri Pandit leaders have termed the arrest as unfortunate and demanded that charges against Handoo are reviewed.
“He was arrested from his Faridabad residence. It’s not good for the community which has suffered due to terrorism, and now a community activist has been booked under cyber terrorism,” said Saraf, Lok Janshakti Party leader.