2019 Pulwama Attack Undertrial Dies In Jammu Hospital

A 32-year-old undertrial prisoner accused in the 2019 Pulwama attack died of an alleged cardiac attack while being treated in a Jammu hospital. He collapsed last month and was sent to Government Medical College in Jammu for additional treatment, but he died there on Monday.

Srinagar: A 32-year-old undertrial prisoner accused in the 2019 Pulwama attack case, died of alleged cardiac arrest during treatment in a Jammu hospital, his family said on Tuesday.

The deceased Bilal Ahmad Kuchay, a native of Hajibal village in Pulwama district, suffered kidney failure last month while in Kishtwar district jail. A week ago, he was admitted to the Government Medical College, Jammu, where he breathed his last on Monday evening, his younger brother Younis Ahmad Kuchay told ETV Bharat.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Bilal, a timber trader, in July 2020, a few months after his marriage. The probe agency accused him of providing logistic support to the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) militants, who had planned the 2019 Pulwama attack on the CRPF convoy, which killed 40 paramilitary personnel.

In August 2020, the NIA issued a 13,800-page chargesheet against the 19 accused in the Pulwama attack case including JeM chief Masood Azhar and other members. It arrested seven of them so far including Bilal. The remaining suspects are either absconding or have been killed in encounters.

A local militant from Kakpora, Adil Ahmad Dar, affiliated with the JeM outfit allegedly rammed an IED-laden car on the CRPF convoy bus in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

The NIA claimed that they cracked the case from a mobile phone recovered from an encounter site in the Nowgam area where Idress Bhai (Umar Farooq) and Kamran were killed. The mobile phone data, including photos, voice and chat messages, had led to the arrest of all the accused—Bilal, Shakir Bashir, Insha and her father of Hakripora Pulwama, who were accused of sheltering the JeM militants in their homes.

Younis said that his brother was presented in the NIA court for 15 hearings after the chargesheet. Bilal is survived by a 3-year-old son and his young wife, his brother said, adding that their father Ghulam Nabi Kuchay died last year while Kuchay was in jail.