Pulwama attack: NIA names JeM chief Azhar, brothers in chargesheet

NIA in its chargesheet in the 2019 Pulwama terror attack case has named JeM chief Masood Azhar, his brothers Abdul Rauf Asghar and Ammar Alvi, slain terrorist Mohammad Umar Farooq and others

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in its chargesheet in the 2019 Pulwama terror attack case has named Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, his brothers Abdul Rauf Asghar and Ammar Alvi, slain JeM terrorist Mohammad Umar Farooq, suicide bomber Adil Ahmed Dar and other terrorist commanders operating from Pakistan.

These are apart from the six arrested accused in the case.

The NIA has filed a 13,500-page chargesheet in the special NIA court in Jammu along with the pictures and digital evidence of the Pulwama terror attack. An NIA official told IANS: "The agency filed a chargesheet (on Tuesday) against Azhar, Asghar, Alvi, their slain nephew Farooq, six arrested accused, and absconding accused Sameer Dar in the Pulwama terror attack case at a Jammu special NIA court."

The NIA said that it has also named two Pakistani nationals - Mohammad Kamran and Mohammad Ismail alias Saifuddin, both IED experts. The official said that the agency has prepared a watertight case against the people named in the chargesheet along with all the irrefutable evidence, including their chats and call details to highlight the role of Pakistan in the February 14, 2019 attack in which 40 CRPF troopers were killed.

The official said that this attack was a plot hatched by the Pakistan-based terror group to project the attack as part of the home-grown militancy in Kashmir. The NIA has also accused several top commanders of the terrorist group in its chargesheet.

The agency arrested Mohammad Iqbal Rather, 25, a resident of Budgam, Jammu & Kashmir in July this year. He is accused of facilitating the movement of Farooq, the JeM terrorist and a key conspirator in this case, after he infiltrated into Indian territory in Jammu region in April 2018.

Farooq, along with others, had assembled the IED used in the terror attack. The NIA in its chargesheet accused that Farooq, who infiltrated in India was an IED expert. Farooq along with suicide bomber Adil and absconding terrorist Sameer Dar prepared the IED that was placed in the Maruti car that was used in the terror attack.

Sameer had come out of the car 500 meters away from the attack site. Earlier, the NIA found that Rather was in constant touch with the Pakistan-based leadership of the JeM and was in communication with them over secure messaging applications and was also part of the transportation module of the terrorist organisation.

The other five arrested accused named in the chargesheet are - Shakir Bashir, Mohammad Abbas Rather, Waiz-ul-Islam, and the father-daughter duo of Tariq Ahmad Shah and Insha Jan - all alleged over ground workers of the JeM.

(Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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