Abid Bashir
Srinagar (NVI): National Investigation Agency (NIA) today filed a charge-sheet against Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, his brother Rauf Asghar and 17 other accused in connection with the February 2019 terror attack at Pulwama in South Kashmir that claimed lives of 40 CRPF personnel.
The 13,500-page charge-sheet lists 19 accused and comprises details of how the planning and execution of the deadliest attack was done by the Jaish chief along with his brother, besides six militants named in the list who have been killed. The chargesheet also mentions seven others arrested and five who are still missing including three Pakistanis, NIA said in a statement.
It stated that on February 14, 2019, 40 CRPF men were killed when a suicide bomber identified as Aadil Ahmad Dar rammed a car full of explosives into a security convoy at Lethpora, Pulwama.
The statement said that the main conspirator behind the attack was Jaish militant Umar Farooq, who is son of Azhar’s elder brother who brought 20 Kg of RDX from Pakistan via Samba in Jammu and was killed by forces in March 2020.
“Other explosives like ammonium nitrate were procured through e-commerce platform,” the chargesheet read adding that after Pulwama attack, JeM had planned another attack and kept suicide bombers ready but that was thwarted through Balakot air strikes.
Chargesheet also includes Masood Azhar’s video and audio recording, praising Pulwama attack, besides Jaish Telegram posts.
The key conspirators, according to NIA named in the Chargesheet are Aadil Ahmad Dar, the suicide bomber, Umar Farooq, who assembled the bomb used in the attack, Shakir Bashir Magray, who drove the car to the attack spot, Mohamed Iqbal Rather from Budgam who facilitated transport for picking up Pakistan based militants to Kashmir, Bashir Ahmad Kuchey who brought high end mobile phones.
The other accused named in the chargesheet are Mohammed Abbas Rather, Waiz ul Islam, Tariq Ahmad Shah and his daughter Insha Jan.
“In total there are 19 accused including two prime conspirators—Masood Azar and his brother Rauf,” the NIA statement read.
-ARK
