In a major breakthrough in the Pulwama attack probe, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday arrested two persons—Tariq Ahmed Shah and his 23-year-old daughter Insha Jan— who were accused of providing shelter to the terrorists including the fidayeen, Adil Ahmad Dar.
During the initial interrogation, Tariq Ahmed Shah is learnt to have confessed that he facilitated the stay of all the terrorists at his house at Hakripora in Pulwama. His house was used for sheltering the terrorists and planning the heinous attack on the CRPF convoy, said the investigators.
Notably, Tariq’s house was also used by the terrorists for preparing and recording of video of Adil Ahmed Dar, which was released by Jaish-e-Mohammed soon after the attack, said the NIA.
Forty CRPF personnel were killed when a suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into their convoy on February 14, 2019.
The NIA officials said 50-year-old Tariq, who works as a tipper driver in South Kashmir, facilitated the stay of not only Adil but also Mohd Umar Farooq, a Pakistani terrorist and IED maker, and Kamran, another Pakistani terrorist, both of whom were later killed in encounters with security forces. The house was also used to shelter Sameer Ahmed Dar, a JeM terrorist from Pulwama and Mohd Ismail Alias Ibrahim alias Adnan, another Pakistani terrorist.
According to NIA, Insha Jan helped his father facilitate the terrorists at their home and provided food and other logistics during their stay on more than 15 occasions for 2-4 days each time during 2018-2019.
Initial interrogation has revealed that Jan was in constant touch with Mohd Umar Farooq over telephone and other social media applications. NIA officials said further probe is on to join the dots to unravel the entire cross border conspiracy in the case.