New Delhi, Aug 25
The National Investigation Agency has filed its chargesheet in the Pulwama attack case.
Pulwama Terror Attack: NIA names Masood Azhar and his brother as plotters in the chargesheet
19 terrorists including Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, Maulana Masood Azhar have been named in the chargesheet. The NIA has also charged Rauf Asghar, brother of Azhar and the launchpad commander of the JeM, Ammar Alvi. Seven persons have been arrested in the case while 5 are still absconding.
The 13,000 page chargesheet was filed at the special court in Jammu. It names Mohammad Umer Farooq as the key conspirator of the attack. He is the nephew of Azhar and son of IC-814 hijacker Ibrahim Azhar.
In its chargesheet, the NIA said that it has enough evidence to show that Farooq was in touch with the JeM leadership in Pakistan. Further the chargesheet also says that 200 kilograms of explosives was used to trigger the blast. 35 kgs of the RDX was brought in from Pakistan while the rest was locally procured nitro-glycerine and ammonium nitrate.
An NIA official tells OneIndia that the investigation relied heavily on digital and scientific evidence and went on for over one year.
Further the NIA said that Farooq had entered India in 2018 and he had played the lead role in assembling the IED. It may be recalled that he was killed in an encounter on March 29 along with Kamran, an IED expert.
The NIA has also named Ismail Saifullahm who along with Farooq had crossed the border.
He is however absconding. Another absconding accused in the chargesheet is Sameer Dar.
He had managed to escape from the encounter site after Farooq and Kamran were killed.
The probe by the NIA revealed that the RDX used in the attack was procured from Pakistan. The JeM terrorists had infiltrated into India and the NIA has video evidence of the same. The NIA also detailed the role of Adil Ahmed Dar, the suicide bomber who rammed the explosive laden vehicle into the CRPF convoy at Pulwama.
The NIA said that the original plan was to strike on February 6 2019. However the plan was delayed as the highway was closed due to snow. It was Shakir Bashir at whose house the bomb was prepared who had noticed work being undertaken by a road opening party.
He in turn alerted Farooq about the same, following which the attack was carried out.
Further the NIA noted that that the suicide bomber Adil Ahmed Dar who drove the vehicle had noted which bus in the CRPF convoy had the maximum number of jawans.
The NIA also said that the the JeM had planned another big attack after Pulwama, but the Balakot strike on the JeM facility made them cancel their plans.
The NIA it may be recalled had also arrested Shakir Bashir Magrey, a furniture shop owner at Lethpora on the charge that he had provided logistic support to the bomber. He is also accused of procuring the battery, ammonium nitrate that was used to fabricate the IED.
Further the NIA had also arrested Tariq Ahmad Shah and his daughter Insha Jan for providing shelter to the terrorists. The others to be named in the chargesheet would be Mohammad Rather, Bilal Ahmed Kuchey, Mohammad Abbas Rather and Waiz ul Islam. Each of these persons helped in both procurement as well as logistics.
- Selfies, Chats, Videos helped NIA nail Jaish
- New Delhi, Aug 25
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday filed a 13500-page chargesheet accusing 19 terrorists of the Pulwama terror attack that had claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans on February 14, last year. The chargesheet names Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar as the mastermind of the terror attack along with his two brothers – Rauf Azghar and Maulana Mohammed Ammar.
The chargesheet was filed by SP NIA Rakesh Balwal in the special court in Jammu on Tuesday.
The NIA case rests largely on the evidence collected from Mohammed Umar Farooq. Masood Azhar's nephew and IC-814 hijacker Ibrahim Azhar's son Mohammed Umar Farooq was one of the key conspirators of the Pulwama attack. Both Umar Farooq and IED expert Kamran were gunned down on March 29 last year.
Mohammed Umar Farooq, one of the key conspirators of the Pulwama attack, had trained in Afghanistan from 2016-2018 and had first infiltrated in Jammu and Kashmir in 2018.
The Jaish conspiracy unfolded soon after the recovery of his phone from the encounter site by Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP). The recovery of the phone became a major turning point, bringing to table a plethora of evidence.
When the NIA took over the case, the agency sent the phone to a forensics team, which was able to dig out several photos, WhatsApp chats and mobile videos proving JeM's involvement in the terror attack on the Indian paramilitary forces.
In the run-up to Pulwama attack, Umar Farooq had clicked several pictures, from selfies to infiltration point in Samba. He had also sent umpteen photos of the execution of terror IED to a Pakistani WhatsApp number.
In one picture, there are remnants of silvery grey IED splattered on smiling faces. The NIA says that the picture was taken on February 5, 2019, and shows Umar Farooq (left) with Sameer Dar (middle) and Adil Ahmed Dar (suicide bomber) assembling the IED. On the 6th morning, they fitted the blue Maruti car with the 200 kg drums of IED. The investigation agency said that the terrorists were ready to first strike on the CRPF convoy on February 6, 2019, but snowfall had led to the closure of the highway and delayed their plan. Call recordings and Whatsapp chats, with pictures of explosives including RDX being taken, have been recovered from the phone and have provided concrete evidence.
An officer expressed shock that terrorists were not using a coded language for their terror plots as they had been emboldened by the WhatsApp chat's encryption feature.
Besides mobile footage shot by terrorists themselves, the NIA also found footprints of infiltrating groups bringing RDX with them from the international border in the Jammu sector. The rest of the IED was assembled and procured locally from Kashmir Valley. A WhatsApp message was sent to Jaish commanders informing them that the explosive had crossed safely into Jammu and Kashmir.
The NIA chargesheet also says the Jaish planned a second attack similar to Pulwama but was aborted after Masood's directions in the aftermath of the Balakot airstrikes.
