JeM charged for Pulwama attack

● On February 14, 2019, an alleged JeM cadre rammed an explosives-laden van into a bus which was part of a convoy of the CRPF at Lethapora killing and maiming security personnel on board.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday filed its chargesheet in the Pulwama terror attack that killed more than 40 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and injured eight others in February last year. The chargesheet, filed in a special court in Jammu, names Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) chief Moulana Masood Azhar, his two brothers Rouf Asgar and Ammar Alvi, suicide bomber Adil Ahmed Dar and 15 others as the accused.

On February 14, 2019, Dar alias ‘Waqas Commando’, an alleged JeM cadre, rammed an explosivesladen Maruti (Suzuki) Eeco into a bus which was part of a convoy of the CRPF at Lethapora in Pulwama district, killing and maiming security personnel on board.

The NIA has claimed that the conspiracy to launch the deadly attack was hatched by the JeM leadership in Pakistan but carried out by local militant Dar to project it as an act of home-grown militancy in the Valley.

The terror attack was initially probed by the J&K police in close partnership with the CRPF, the Army and other security forces and intelligence agencies. However, the case was soon handed over to the NIA by the Union ministry.

The NIA claimed that it has in its 13,800-page chargesheet provided “irrefutable evidence”, and also to highlight the role of Pakistan in the deadly attack.

The case was registered against the accused under various sections of J&K’s (now defunct) Ranbir Penal Code, Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Foreigners Act and J&K Public Property (Prevention of Damages) Act.