India's NIA names Hafiz Saeed in supplementary chargesheet over Pahalgam attack

India's National Investigation Agency has named Pakistan-based militant Hafiz Saeed in a supplementary chargesheet in the Pahalgam terror attack case. The filing was made before the NIA Special Court in Jammu and adds to the agency's earlier case file on the April 22, 2025 attack in Jammu and Kashmir. The agency says Saeed is accused both personally and as the founder and chief of Lashkar-e-Toiba and its proxy, The Resistance Front.

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According to the NIA, the supplementary chargesheet invokes provisions under India's Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The agency also said it has added penal provisions related to waging war against India and an alleged cross-border conspiracy. In its statement, the NIA said the proscribed Lashkar-e-Toiba and The Resistance Front were charged as legal entities for their role in planning, facilitating and executing the attack.

The April 22 attack in Pahalgam involved what the agency described as religion-based targeted killings by Pakistan-sponsored militants. Twenty-five tourists and one local civilian were killed, making it one of the deadliest attacks in the region in recent years. The new filing extends the original 1,597-page chargesheet and says it includes details of Pakistan's role, Saeed's alleged involvement and evidence gathered through scientific investigation and on-ground examination.

The case has wider significance because it links a major civilian attack in Kashmir to alleged cross-border planning and to a figure long associated with Lashkar-e-Toiba. Saeed has been named in his personal capacity and as the founder and chief of the banned group, which India says operated through The Resistance Front as an active proxy. The chargesheet therefore strengthens the legal framing of the case from a local terror investigation into one with clear international and diplomatic implications.

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The filing also follows earlier developments in the same investigation. On December 15, 2025, the NIA named Pakistani handler Sajid Jatt as an accused, and that earlier chargesheet also included three militants killed by security forces during Operation Mahadev in July 2025, along with two arrested suspects. Together, those steps suggest the investigation has been widening over time as the agency builds its case around planning, support networks and operational responsibility.

What remains unclear is how the court will assess the new allegations and whether further arrests or additional charges will follow. The NIA has not publicly detailed all of the evidence cited in the supplementary filing, beyond saying it was gathered through scientific and field investigation. The next key stage will be the court process in Jammu, where the chargesheet will be examined and the prosecution case tested.

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