The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday has named terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar in its chargesheet in the 2019 February Pulwama terror attack.
Other JeM members who were named by the NIA include Masood Azhar’s brother Abdul Rauf Asghar, slain terrorist Mohammad Umar Farooq, suicide bomber Adil Ahmed Dar and other terrorist commanders operating from Pakistan.
The six accused who are arrested recently in connection with the case were also named by the NIA in its chargesheet.
An NIA official told IANS: “The agency will file a chargesheet (on Tuesday) against Azhar, Asghar, their slain relative Farooque, six arrested accused in the Pulwama terror attack case at a Jammu Special NIA court.”
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, 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 India’s home-grown militancy in Kashmir.
The NIA has also accused several top commanders of the terrorist group in its chargesheet.
In July, the NIA had arrested 25-year-old Mohammad Iqbal Rather, a resident of Budgam, Jammu and Kashmir in connection with the case.
He is accused of facilitating the movement of Muhammad Umar Farooq, the JeM terrorist and a key conspirator in this case, after he infiltrated into the Indian territory in Jammu region in April 2018.
Farooq, along with others, had assembled the IED used in the terror attack.
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 Mohammad Abbas Rather, Waiz-ul-Islam, father-daughter duo Tariq Ahmad Shah and Insha Jan — all alleged ground workers of the JeM.
Last year on February 14, JeM plotted the Pulwama terror attack that killed over 44 CRPF personnel.
It was one of the deadliest terror strikes in Jammu-Kashmir as a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber blew up an explosive-laden vehicle near their bus in Pulwama district.
The bus was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying around 2500 CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar.