A 32-year-old man accused in a CRPF terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district five years ago died of a heart attack at the Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu, officials said.
Bilal Ahmad Kuchey of Kakapora village in Hajibal was among the 19 people formally charged in the case.
40 CRPF personnel were killed and eight others were injured when a Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a train at Lethpora in Pulwama on February 14, 2019.
According to officials, Kuchey was admitted to the hospital on September 17 after falling ill in Kishtwar district jail. He died of a heart attack on Monday night, they added.
Kuchey and 18 other suspects in the case were charged by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on August 25, 2020. He is one of the seven suspects arrested in the case.
He and other accused, Shakir Bashir, Insha Jan and Peer Tariq Ahmad Shah had supplied material and kept JeM terrorists in their houses.
The charge sheet has been filed under various sections of Ranbir Penal Code, Arms Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Foreigners Act and J&K Public Property (Prevention of Damages) Act.
While six terrorists, including three Pakistanis, involved in the terrorist attacks were killed in separate battles, six others, 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 organization.
JeM leaders have been sending their cadres to Al-Qaeda-Taliban-JeM and Haqqani-JeM camps in Afghanistan for training in explosives and other terrorist tactics, the NIA said.