Srinagar: National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday filed 13,800 pages chargesheet against 19 accused persons in NIA Special Court at Jammu in connection with the militant attack on the CRPF convoy at Lethpura, Pulwama, with an IED-laden vehicle by Jaish-e-Mohammad militant Adil Ahmad Dar, resulting in killing of 40 armed forces personnel (CRPF) and grievous injuries to eight others.
In a statement, the investigation agency said that it has filed chargesheet u/s 120-B, 121, 121-A, 122, 123, 307, 302 of the RPC, sections 7, 25, 27 of Arms Act, sections 3, 4, 5 & 6 of the Explosive Substances Act, sections 16, 17, 18, 18A, 18B, 19, 20, 21, 38 & 39 of the UA (P) Act, section 14C of Foreigners Act and section 4 of Jammu and Kashmir Public Property (Prevention of Damages) Act, 1985 against the following accused persons.
(1) Masood Azhar, 52 years, Pakistani national (Absconding) (2) Rouf Asgar, 47 years, Pakistani national (Absconding) (3) Ammar Alvi, 46 years, Pakistani national (Absconding) (4) Shakir Bashir, 24 Years, of Kakapora, Pulwama, J&K (Arrested) (5) Insha Jan, 22 Years of Kakapora, Pulwama, J&K (Arrested) (6) Peer Tariq Ahmed Shah, 53 Years, of Kakapora, Pulwama, J&K (Arrested) (7) Waiz-ul-Islam, 20 Years, a resident of Srinagar, J&K (Arrested) (8) Mohd Abbas Rather, 31 Years, of Kakapura, Pulwama, J&K. (Arrested) (9) Bilal Ahmed Kuchhey, 28 years, of Hajibal, Lalhar, Pulwama, J&K (Arrested) (10) Mohd Iqbal Rather, 25 years, of Charar-e-Shareef, Budgam, J&K (Arrested) (11) Mohd Ismail, 25 years, of Pakistani national (Absconding) (12) Sameer Ahmad Dar, 22 years, of Kakapora, Pulwama, Kashmir (Absconding) (13) Ashaq Ahmed Nengroo, 33 years, of Rajpura, Pulwama (Absconding) (14) Adil Ahmed Dar, 21 years, of Kakapora, Pulwama, Kashmir (Killed) (15) Muhammad Umar Farooq, 24 years, of Pakistani national (Killed) (16) Mohd Kamran Ali, 25 years, Pakistani national (Killed) (17) Sajjad Ahmed Bhat, 19 years, of Bijbehera, Anantnag (Killed) (18) Mudasir Ahmad Khan, 24 years, of Awantipura, Pulwama (Killed) (19) Qari Yasir, of Pakistani national (Killed).
The investigation has revealed that Pulwama attack was a result of “well-planned criminal conspiracy hatched by Pakistan-based leadership of militant orgnisation Jaish-e-Mohammad”. The JeM leaders have been sending their cadres to the militant training camps of Al-Qaida-Taliban-JeM and Haqqani-JeM in Afghanistan for receiving training in explosives and other militant tactics.
According to NIA, the main accused Mohammad Umar Farooq also visited Afghanistan for exploisves training in 2016-17. He infiltrated into India through International Border at Jammu-Samba Sector in April, 2018 and took over as Jaish-e-Mohammad Commander of Pulwama.
Mohammad Umar along with his Pakistani compatriots Mohd Kamran, Mohd Ismail @ Saifullah and Qari Yasir and local associates namely Sameer Dar and Adil Ahmad Dar planned and prepared for the attack on armed forces personnel using IEDs.
Accused Shakir Bashir, Insha Jan, Peer Tariq Ahmad Shah and Bilal Ahmad Kuchey provided all logistics and harboured the JeM militants in their houses.
From December, 2018 onwards, Shakir Bashir started doing reconnaissance of the movement and deployment of armed forces personnel on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.
Mudasir Ahmad Khan arranged Gelatin sticks and handed them over to Shakir Bashir. RDX was brought by the Pakistani militants who infiltrated into India. Shakir Bashir collected the explosive material including RDX, Gelatin sticks, Aluminium power and Calcium-Ammonium Nitrate and stocked them at his house for making the IED.
In January, 2019, Sajjad Ahmad Bhat purchased a Maruti EECO car for the purpose of carrying out the IED attack. The car was kept in the front-yard of Shakir Bashir’s house. Waiz-Ul-Islam ordered 04 kgs of Aluminium powder from his Amazon account on the directions of accused Mohd Ismail @ Saifullah and gave the same to him.
Towards the end of January, 2019, Mohammad Umar Farooq, Sameer Dar and Adil Dar made the propaganda video clip of the suicide attack at Insha Jan’s house which was released immediately after the attack.
In the first week of Febuary, 2019, Mohd Umar Farooq, Sameer Ahmad Dar, Adil Ahmad Dar and Shakir Bashir made the IED using RDX, Calcium-Ammonium Nitrate, Gelatin Sticks and Aluminium Powder and assembled it in two containers, one weighing around 160 Kgs and the second one weighing around 40 Kgs. The two IED containers were fitted in Maruti EECO car and were ready by the morning of Febuary 6, 2019.
However, because of heavy snowfall, the Srinagar-Jammu highway got closed for the vehicular movement.
On Febuary 14, 2019, as the highway opened, Shakir Bashir drove Adil Ahmad Dar till highway, after which Adil Ahmad Dar took charge of the vehicle and drove on to the highway further and carried out the suicide attack by ramming the Maruti EECO car laden with 200 Kgs of high-grade explosives into a bus of the CRPF convoy, resulting in killing of 40 CRPF personnel and damage to the tune of Rs 32,90,719/- to the public property.
The investigation has revealed that the Pakistan-based JeM leadership consisting of Masood Azhar, Rouf Asgar and Ammar Alvi @ Chacha @ Chota Masood were continuously giving directions and guidance to the Pakistani JeM militants (who had infiltrated into India) both before and after the attack.
They had also planned to carry out another suicide attack which got averted due to Balakot strikes and due to killing of main conspirator Mohd Umar Farooq by the armed forces personnel. Further, due to international pressure, Pakistan lied low.
Investigation also revealed a well-crafted mechanism by Pakistani establishment to push militants into the Indian territory from the launch pads located in Shakargarh (Pakistan) opposite Samba-Kathua Sector in Jammu.
The NIA charge-sheet against 19 accused persons marks the culmination of year and a half long painstaking and meticulous investigation with valuable inputs received from other Central and State government agencies as well as foreign law-enforcement agencies.
Lot of digital, forensic, documentary and oral evidence establishing a fool-proof case against the accused for this “dastardly and barbaric” attack has been collected.
The charge-sheet has brought on record the all-out involvement of Pakistan-based entities to carry out militant strikes in India and to incite and provoke Kashmiri youth.
NBW’s have been got issued against the absconding accused and further investigation in the case is continued.
Free Press Kashmir is now on Telegram. Click here to Join.
