Srinagar: Investigators probing into the February 14 attack on a CRPF convoy in Lethpora area along the Srinagar-Jammu highway in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, killing 49 CRPF personnel which was claimed by militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), have found shards of a material from what seems like part of a jerrycan at the site and suspect that the explosive may have been packed in this, according to a report by Indian Express.
The material broke away and survived the blast while much of the jerrycan has been destroyed, investigators were quoted as having said in the report.
According to the report, these remains estimated by investigators show that the can was not more than 20-25 litres in size and so could not have held more than 30 kg of RDX.
Officials from the Jammu and Kashmir Police and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India who are jointly probing the case, have also found a metal piece that had a number written on it, presumably the chassis number.
Investigators are said to have traced the owner but it turned out to be a number matching a vehicle that doesn’t seem to be connected with the blast, the report said.
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According to a previous Indian Express report, based on eyewitness accounts, investigations have stated that the attacker was driving a red-coloured Maruti Eeco car packed with an improvised explosive device (IED) and detonated it when it came close to the fifth bus in the convoy. The convoy was moving on the Jammu-Srinagar highway when the attacker, claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammed to be its recruit Adil Ahmed Dar, drove his car on the highway from a side lane in Lethpora and detonated the bomb, as per the IE report.
Quoting sources, the report said that from the attack site, investigators picked up a car bumper, a few pieces of a jerrycan and the metal piece with a number.
“We believe the explosive was packed in this jerrycan but there is no way this can be traced to the owner. There is no mark that can give us any clue to where it was bought from or manufactured,” an officer aware of the investigation was quoted in the report as having said.
The report further explains that investigators suspect that the explosive could have been smuggled from across the border in small amounts. It further underlines that the investigators stated how ‘sheer providence’ prevented greater casualties.
Soon after the attack, Navjot Singh Sidhu, a minister in Captain Amarinder Singh’s Congress government in Punjab, asked whether an entire country (Pakistan) could be blamed for the acts of a few.
Sidhu, however, strongly condemned the Pulwama attack.
After the Pulwama attack, Kashmiris living in India have been facing xenophobia, hate, terminations and suspensions.
A mob threatened to set a Dehradun college on fire if the institute didn’t terminate a Kashmiri dean. Abid Kuchay, college Dean of the Alpine Institute has been terminated.
“The college asked for it. I agreed for the betterment of the college,” he said. Abid’s resignation has been asked for his role of getting Kashmir students admitted in the college.
Moreover, four Kashmiri students were suspended on Saturday by the National Institute of Medical Science (NIMS), Rajasthan for sharing a WhatsApp status in which they were allegedly celebrating the Pulwama attack which left 49 CRPF personnel dead.
The second-year students — Talveen Manzoor, Iqra, Zohra Nazir and Uzma Nazir — were suspended soon after they shared as a WhatsApp status allegedly celebrating the killings of the CRPF personnel in the attack
Earlier, Shridev Suman Subharti University in Dehradun suspended a Kashmiri student after his alleged WhatsApp chat regarding the Pulwama attack went viral.
Meanwhile, Aligarh Muslim University also suspended a Kashmiri student over a ‘highly objectionable tweet’.
Omar Saleem Peerzada, AMU PRO said: “We have come to know of the highly objectionable tweet. Taking immediate cognizance the student has been suspended by the university administration,” he said.
Moreover, 15-20 Kashmiri female students had locked themselves in a hostel room in Dehradun after a mob surrounded the campus area, demanding the management to ‘throw them out of their rooms’.
Shazia Hamid, one of the students, told Free Press Kashmir that she and other Kashmiri female students, fearing the mob, have locked themselves in a room.
Following Free Press Kashmir’s news story the women were provided safety by the Dehradun police who dispersed the crowd peacefully.
Earlier, former chief minister Omar Abdullah had appealed to the Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh to direct all state governments to take ‘special care of areas where Kashmiris as residing or studying.’
Following the reports of attacks on Kashmiris in various parts of India, Government of India on Saturday asked all the states to ensure safety and security of the students and people from Jammu and Kashmir.
