A 32-year-old Delhi resident was allegedly duped of over Rs 9 lakh by a person posing as the chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and accusing him of being involved in the Pulwama terror attack.
Officials said Bilal Ahmed Kuchey had allowed the terrorists to use his house as a hideout and also provided them with high-end mobile phones.
The probe into last year's Pulwama terror strike that left 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel dead has virtually reached a dead end, with five persons, who were either conspirators or executers of the ghastly attack, being eliminated by security forces in various encounters. However, the case threw unique challenges for the National Investigation Agency, the anti-terror probe agency formed in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror strikes in 2008, as it there is no solid information about the perpetrators or the mastermind behind the attack.
The NIA arrested Tariq Ahmed Shah and his daughter Insha Jan after investigation led to their house at Hakripora in Pulwama district of south Kashmir, where a video was filmed by Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Adil Ahmed Dar, who rammed an explosive-ridden car into the CRPF convoy. The video was released from Pakistan after the attack.
A total of 207 police bravery medals were declared by the Union government apart from 89 President's police medals for distinguished service and 650 police medals for meritorious service, as per a list published by the Union home ministry.
The case posed unique challenges, such as a lot of evidence having blown to pieces in the suicide attack and seven accused being subsequently killed in encounters. However, the central agency used forensic tests including DNA profiling of the meagre evidence to breach the dead ends.
India has slammed Pakistan for stating that it had no role in the Pulwama attack carried out by Pakistan-based terror group JeM, saying Islamabad could not claim that it was unaware of the presence of terror groups on its soil as the links of such outfits to the country were there for everyone to see.
The deputy superintendent of police's arrest has raised questions about the role of collaborators in terror attacks.
The 13,500-page chargesheet names Masood Azhar, his brothers -- Abdul Rauf and Ammar Alvi -- and his nephew Mohammed Umer Farooq, who had infiltrated into India in 2018 and was subsequently killed in one of the encounters in South Kashmir.
Mudasir Ahmed Khan alias 'Mohd Bhai, an electrician with a graduate degree and a resident of Pulwama, arranged the vehicle and explosives used in the terror strike.
'This is for the first time that a strong, solid evidence-based investigation has happened.' 'It can meet international standards and put the onus on the Pakistanis.'