NIA files chargesheet against Masood Azhar Alvi, 18 others in Pulwama terror attack

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday filed a charge sheet against Masood Azhar Alvi and 18 others in an NIA court in Jammu in connection with the Pulwama terror attack, in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

According to NIA sources, the 13,500 page chargesheet has named several Pakist nationals as accused in the case.

Those named as accused include Pakist nationals Masood Azhar Alvi, Rouf Asgar Alvi, Ammar Alvi, Mohd Ismail, Muhammad Umar Farooq, Mohd Kamran Ali, and Qari Yasir. Notably, the chargesheet named six accused who have already been killed.

Others named in the FIR include Shakir Bashir, Insha Jan, Peer Tariq Ahmed Shah, Mohd Abbas Rather, Bilal Ahmed Kuchhey, Mudasir Ahmad Khan, Sameer Ahmad Dar, Ashaq Ahmed Nengroo, and Adil Ahmed Dar, all residents of Pulwama district.

Srinagar resident Waiz-ul-Islam, Budgam resident Mohd Iqbal Rather and Sajjad Ahmed Bhat from Anantnag district were also named in the chargesheet.

In July, the NIA had informed that it has arrested the seventh accused named, Bilal Ahmed Kuchey, whom the agency has termed as "a terror associate" on July 5.

According to the agency, Kuchey a resident of Hajibal, Kakapora, Jammu and Kashmir, runs a sawmill at his place and harboured and extended logistic support to the Jaish-e- Mohammad (JeM) terrorists involved in the Pulwama attack.

The main perpetrators in the case stayed in his house and Kuchey further introduced them to other over ground workers (OGWs) who provided safe houses during their stay and planning of the attack.

In February last year, 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a JeM-orchestrated terror attack in South Kashmir's Pulwama district. The incident took place when a CRPF convoy, consisting of around 2,500 personnel, was attacked by a suicide bomber who rammed a car laden with explosives into one of the buses on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.

( With inputs from ANI )