4-feet-tall slain JeM terrorist Noor Mohammad once tried to join BJP, kill top leaders

Tantray, also known as the "merchant of death", wanted to join BJP in 2003

NEW DELHI: Noor Mohammad Tantray, the dreaded Pakistan-based terrorist, wanted to join the Bharatiya Janata Party and kill several senior members of the party. 

Tantray, also known as the "merchant of death", wanted to join the BJP in 2003, reported the DNA.

The JeM terrorist even visited the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, where he obtained a form to register as an active member of the party. His plan was to spy and later attack the unsuspecting BJP leaders.

But before the plan could materialise, the Anti-Terror Unit of Delhi Police's Special Cell, then headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashok Chand, arrested him and his associates from Delhi with a huge cache of arms and ammunition.

The four-feet-tall terrorist went by several aliases such as Peer Baba, Gulzar Ahmed Bhat, Uwais, etc. 

In a massive setback to JeM, a terror outfit banned by the United Nations and several countries across the world, the Special Unit of the Jammu and Kashmir Police on Tuesday killed its divisional commander Tantray.

Tantray, who was out on parole, died in a fierce gunbattle in South Kashmir's Pulwama district. He was killed during the intervening night of December 25-26 at Samboora in Pulwama - not too far from his home in Tral.

After his arrest in 2003, Tantray had spent nearly eight years in Delhi's Tihar Jail and later intensified his activities since release on parole in 2015.

“Tantray was a member of JeM, a terrorist organisation banned under Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 and was arrested for entering into a criminal conspiracy with four others (Rashid, Mohd Sahid, Habeeb and Khurshid Ahmed Butt, all said four others having since been killed in different encounters with security forces), to commit terrorist acts and wage war against India,” Chand told DNA.