NIA team visits Kolkata residence of Pahalgam terror attack victim Bitan Adhikary and records wife statement

Kolkata: A team from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday visited the Baishnabghata residence of Florida-based techie Bitan Adhikary (40), who was among the 26 victims killed in the devastating terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22, and recorded the statement of his wife, Soheni (37).The investigators spent nearly five hours recording detailed statements from the woman, who was asked to recall the events leading to the attack and what happened during it. Sources said she was also asked to describe the attackers, based on which investigators made a sketch.The NIA team, comprising two male and a female officer, arrived at their Baishnabghata flat at 1.30 pm, aiming to piece together crucial details about the moments leading up to the tragedy. Sources revealed that the officers focused on retracing the family's final interactions before the militants struck, including reviewing photographs Soheni, Bitan, and their three-and-a-half-year-old son Hridaan had taken just before the gunfire erupted.Sources said the officials asked Soheni how they came face to face with the attackers, what the exact conversation was, and if she could identify the attackers.Although Soheni didn't respond to calls or texts from TOI on Sunday, in earlier interactions, she narrated in detail her encounter with the terrorists and how they killed her husband before her. She told TOI that they started running upon hearing sounds of gunfire while carrying their toddler son. They scrambled towards a spot where some tourists were trying to hide, and all sat with heads down. Hridaan, however, was terrified and continued screaming.She told TOI how one of the two terrorists, dressed in a Pathan suit and wearing a video camera strapped on his forehead, singled out Bitan and asked his religion. "He was held at gunpoint and asked whether he was a Hindu or Muslim. He stayed mum. Then they asked him to recite Kalma. He couldn't and admitted he was a Hindu. Before he could finish the sentence, they shot him dead," Soheni told TOI on Wednesday on her way back to Kolkata with her husband's body in a coffin.Soheni further narrated to reporters that once Bitan collapsed with a bullet injury on his shoulder, she tried to resuscitate him when the attackers walked away. She said she gave CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but couldn't revive him. She also said that there were no police or security personnel in sight at the valley when the terrorists lazily chose victims—only men—and fired at them.On Saturday, the same team of NIA officers recorded the statement of the wife and daughter of another victim from Kolkata, Sameer Guha. After recording their statement, they contacted Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar. On Sunday, they also visited Lalbazar before coming over to Baishnabghata.Sources said that over the next few days, the NIA is expected to meet with other bereaved families, including Jaya Mishra, wife of the third deceased from Bengal—Intelligence Bureau officer Manish Ranjan Mishra, from Jhalda in Purulia.