NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today filed a charge sheet in February 2019 Pulwama terror attack case in which it named 19 people for carrying out the attack at Pakistan’s behest . The 13,500 pages charge sheet was filed before a special NIA court in Jammu.

Jaish Chief, Maulana Masood Azhar , his brothers Abdul Rauf Asghar and Ammar Alvi , and nephew Umar Farooq are among those named in the charge sheet by the agency. The charge sheet has been filed 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 Alvi, 52, Pakistani national

2. Rouf Asgar Alvi, 47, Pakistani national

3. Ammar Alvi, 46, Pakistani national

4. Shakir Bashir, 24, resident of Kakapora, Pulwama

5. Insha Jan, 22, resident of Kakapora, Pulwama

6. Peer Tariq Ahmed Shah, 53, resident of Kakapora, Pulwama

7. Waiz-ul-Islam, 20, resident of Srinagar

8. Mohd Abbas Rather, 31, resident of Kakapura, Pulwama

9. Bilal Ahmed Kuchhey, 28, resident of Hajibal, Lalhar, Pulwama

10. Mohd Iqbal Rather, 25, resident of Charar-e-Shareef, Budgam

11. Mohd Ismail, 25, Pakistani national

12. Sameer Ahmad Dar, 22, resident of Kakapora, Pulwama

13. Ashaq Ahmed Nengroo, 33, resident of Rajpura, Pulwama

14. Adil Ahmed Dar, 21, resident of Kakapora, Pulwama

15. Muhammad Umar Farooq, 24, Pakistani national

16. Mohd Kamran Ali, 25, Pakistani national

17. Sajjad Ahmed Bhat, 19, resident of Bijbehera, Anantnag

18. Mudasir Ahmad Khan, 24, resident of Awantipura

19. Qari Yasir, Pakistani national

The charge sheet also names people who were arrested from Pulwama for providing shelter and shooting the last video of Adil Dar, the suicide bomber who used around 200 kgs of explosives in the vehicle that rammed into the CRPF convoy near Lethpora in South Kashmir.

The “blind case” was solved by the NIA after piecing together the electronic evidence and statements of terrorists arrested in different cases. As many as seven people have been arrested so far by the NIA in this case.

The Charge Sheet:

The investigation has revealed that the Pulwama attack was a result of a well-planned criminal conspiracy hatched by Pakistan-based leadership of terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad. The JeM leaders have been sending their cadres to the terrorist training camps of Al-Qaida-Taliban-JeM and Haqqani-JeM in Afghanistan for receiving training in explosives and other terrorist tactics.

The main accused viz. Mohammad Umar Farooq also visited Afghanistan for explosives 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 viz. Mohd. Kamran, Mohd. Ismail @ Saifullah and Qari Yasir and local associates viz. Sameer Dar and Adil Ahmad Dar planned and prepared for the attack on security forces using IEDs.

Accused Shakir Bashir, Insha Jan, Peer Tariq Ahmad Shah and Bilal Ahmad Kuchey provided all logistics and harboured the JeM terrorists in their houses. From December 2018 onwards, Shakir Bashir started doing reconnaissance of the movement and deployment of security forces on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. Mudasir Ahmad Khan arranged Gelatin sticks and handed them over to Shakir Bashir. RDX was brought by the Pakistani terrorists who infiltrated into India. Shakir Bashir collected the explosive material i.e. RDX, Gelatin sticks, Aluminium power and Calcium-Ammonium Nitrate and stocked them at his house for making the IED.

In Jan. 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 Jan 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 Feb. 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 6th Feb. 2019. However, because of heavy snowfall, the National Highway got closed for the vehicular movement.

On 14th Feb. 2019, as the National Highway opened, Shakir Bashir drove Adil Ahmad Dar till National Highway, after which Adil Ahmad Dar took charge of the vehicle and drove on to the National Highway 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 40 CRPF personnel getting martyred 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 terrorists (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 the killing of main conspirator Mohd. Umar Farooq by the security forces. Further, due to international pressure, Pakistan lied low.

The investigation also revealed a well-crafted mechanism by the Pakistani establishment to push terrorists 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 & 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. A lot of digital, forensic, documentary and oral evidence establishing a fool-proof case against the accused of 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 terrorist 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.