Pulwama attack accused dies of heart attack in Jammu hospital

A 32-year-old man chargesheeted in the deadly terror attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district five years ago has died of a heart attack in the Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu, officials said.

IMAGE: A wreath laying ceremony for security personnel who lost their lives in Pulwama terror attack, on February 15, 2019. Photograph: ANI Photo

Bilal Ahmad Kuchey of Kakapora's Hajibal village was among 19 people formally charged in the case.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and eight more injured when a terrorist of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad rammed his explosive-laden car into a convoy in Pulwama's Lethpora on February 14, 2019.

According to officials, Kuchey was hospitalised on September 17 after he fell sick at the Kishtwar district jail.

He died of a heart attack on Monday night, they added.

Kuchey and 18 other accused in the case were chargesheeted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on August 25, 2020.

He was among the seven accused arrested in the case.

He and the other accused Shakir Bashir, Insha Jan and Peer Tariq Ahmad Shah had provided logistics and harboured the JeM terrorists in their homes.

The charge sheet was filed under various sections of the Ranbir Penal Code, Arms Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Foreigners Act and the J&K Public Property (Prevention of Damages) Act.

While six terrorists, including three Pakistanis, involved in the terror attack were killed in separate encounters, six more, including JeM founder Masood Azhar are still at large.

According to the NIA, the Pulwama attack was the result of a well-planned criminal conspiracy hatched by the Pakistan-based leadership of the terrorist organisation.

JeM leaders have been sending their cadres to the camps of Al-Qaeda-Taliban-JeM and Haqqani-JeM in Afghanistan to be trained in explosives and other terror tactics, the NIA said.