Pakistan-based terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, has been named as the mastermind of the Pulwama terror attack of February 2019 along with two of his brothers – Rauf Azghar and Maulana Mohammed Ammar – in the chargesheet filed by the National Investigation Agency.
The 13,000-page chargesheet, filed at a special court in Jammu on Tuesday, said the key conspirator of the attack was Mohammed Umer Farooq, who was a nephew of Masood Azhar and son of IC-814 hijacker Ibrahim Azhar. As many as 19 terrorists, including the Pakistan-based handlers, have been named as accused.
The NIA has submitted to the court that it has enough evidence to show that Farooq was in touch with the leadership of Jaish in Pakistan before, during and after the terror strike on the CRPF convoy, in which 40 soldiers were killed.
The NIA has relied on scientific and digital evidence to prepare its case as the investigation lasted more than 18 months. Officials aware of the developments said call recordings, WhatsApp chats, pictures and videos have been recovered from the phones of the accused.
The chargesheet says that 200kg of explosives was used to trigger the blast, of which 35kg was RDX that was brought from Pakistan and the rest was locally procured ammonium nitrate and nitro-glycerin.
Farooq, the chargesheet says, had entered India in April 2018 and was the main assembler of the IED used in the attack. He was killed in an encounter on March 29, 2020 along with IED expert Kamran.
Another key conspirator named in the chargesheet Ismail Saifullahm who had crossed the border from Pakistan a few days after Farooq. He is still absconding.
Also absconding is Sameer Dar, who was part of the core group that planned the terror attack. Dar was with Farooq and Kamran when they were killed in the encounter, but had managed to escape.
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 closure of the highway and delayed their plan.
On the fateful day of February 14, one Shakir Bashir, who had a shop near the blast site, observed that road opening parties were being set up on highway and alerted Farooq, setting in motion the attack. The bomb was also prepared at Bashir’s house, the NIA said.
Adil Ahmed Dar, the local fidayeen who drove the bomb-laden vehicle into the CRPF bus, actually observed which bus had the maximum jawans and specifically chose that bus to ram his vehicle in to cause maximum casualties, said the chargesheet.
The NIA said it has also found evidence to show that after Pulwama, another big attack was planned, but the idea was dropped after the Balakot air strikes.
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