Seventh accused in 2019 Pulwama blast held by NIA

The NIA arrests Pulwama resident for February 2019 attack on CRPF convoy

In this file photo, soldiers stand guard near the site of the suicide bomb attack in Lethpora in south Kashmir's Pulwama district.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday arrested one more accused from Pulwama involved in the 2019 car blast case which left 40 jawans dead in the district.

A NIA spokesman said the accused, Bilal Ahmed Kuchey, a resident of Hajibal, Kakapora, Pulwama, was produced before the NIA’s Special Court in Jammu and was taken “for custodial interrogation”. It is the seventh arrest made by the NIA in the case so far.

“Kuchey, who is running a sawmill in Pulwama, is a terror associate,” the spokesperson said.

The NIA claimed the accused “harboured and extended logistic support to the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) militants involved in the Pulwama attack”.

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“The main perpetrators in the case stayed in his house and introduced them to others over ground workers, who provided safe houses during their stay and [helped in the] planning of the attack. He also provided the JeM militants with high-end mobile phones,” the NIA said.

These phones were used by them to communicate with the Pakistan-based JeM leadership as well.

The mobile phone provided by him was also used for recording the video clip of Fidayeen Adil Ahmed Dar, which went viral after the attack, the NIA said.