40 CRPF jawans were killed in the Pulwama terrorist attack (File)
New Delhi:
The NIA arrested another accused on Thursday in the Pulwama terrorist attack last year, in which 40 CRPF members were killed, an official said.
Mohammad Iqbal Rather (25), resident of the Jammu and Kashmir Budgam, is said to have facilitated the movement of Muhammad Umar Farooq – a member of the Pakistani-based terrorist team Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and the key conspirator in the case. – after infiltrating Indian territory in the Jammu region in April 2018, said a spokesman for the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Farooq, along with others, had assembled the improvised explosive device (IED) used in the Pulwama attack, he said.
Rather was in constant contact with the JeM managers based in Pakistan on secure messaging applications, said the official.
This is the sixth arrest made by the NIA in this case, he added.
On the contrary, part of the JeM’s “transport module” has been in judicial detention since September 2018 in another case linked to terrorist attire and questioned by the first investigative agency, said the official.
It was produced by prison authorities before a special NIA court in Jammu on Thursday and sent to the agency for seven days for questioning, he said.
In March, two people, including one who bought chemicals online to make the IEDs used in the Pulwama attack, were arrested by the NIA.
A man and his daughter, who allegedly witnessed the plot behind the daring attack, were also arrested in March by the NIA, the counterterrorism investigation agency created following the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
