How An Adidas Jacket, A Kashmiri Lover And A Damaged Mobile Nailed Pulwama Mastermind

It was six months since the Pulwama attack resulted in the deaths of 40 CRPF jawans on February 14, 2019, but Rakesh Balwal, the Jammu and Kashmir head of the NIA, was not able to follow up on any leads. Intelligence agencies did not know that the mastermind of the attack, Masood Azhar¡¯s nephew Umar Farooq, had crossed into Kashmir or was killed in an encounter just a month after the attack. So what led to NIA connecting the dots? As per TNN, interestingly, it was Umar Farooq¡¯s love for two things ¡ª sportswear, and a Kashmiri woman. Things began to become clear because of a photograph, reveals a new book by journalist Rahul Pandita who interviewed investigating officers from the NIA and J&K police.

Balwal tells Pandita that it was seeing a picture of two terrorists killed in March that he felt that the well-groomed babyface in Adidas clothing was no ordinary person. The police said he was called Idrees bhai. Balwal was informed about two confiscated phones, an iPhone and a Samsung S-9 Plus, that the police found damaged and could not get any information from.

TOI

Convinced that the phones could hold some vital clues, Balwal used the occasion of the Kashmir IG¡¯s farewell to appeal that the phones be sent to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In). A week later, Balwal¡¯s phone rang. It was an expert from CERT-In. ¡®Sir, we have hit a jackpot,¡¯ he said. And jackpot it was. The 100 GB of data included a selfie of three men, one of whom Balwal recognised as the man he¡¯d been told was Idrees bhai and the other as the Pulwama bomber Adil Dar. ¡°In another photo in Idrees Bhai¡¯s phone, the NIA investigators noticed a package from Amazon. They sent the consignment number to the company, which got back saying it was sent to one Waiz-ul-Islam, who had in the last few transactions bought aluminium powder, battery, chargers, knives and a pair of size 13 shoes.¡±

The book reveals that Umar had been told by Masood Azhar¡¯s brother Rouf Asghar, the operational head of the Jaish, to destroy his phone after the Pulwama attack. But instead of doing that, he sent his uncle the picture of another smashed phone so he¡¯d think that he had followed orders. Had Umar not made that mistake, it would have been very difficult to establish the Pulwama attack conspiracy all the way to Masood Azhar and his brothers, says Pandita.

TOI

But why did Umar not destroy his phone? The reason was Insha Jan, 22, a resident of Kashmir. Umar used the phone to chat with her and often stayed at their home as Insha¡¯s father being a Jaish sympathiser. Her photo was also on the phone, posing with a pistol and an assault rifle. Little did Insha know that the Jaish commander or ¡®The Lover Boy from Bahawalpur¡¯ as the book calls him, had liaisons with several other Kashmiri women, including her own cousin sister.

But despite the phone cache, Balwal was yet to make the connection between Idrees Bhai and Umar, and it was again the love affair that clinched it. In February last year, the NIA picked up Shakir Bashir who sheltered the terrorists and drove Dar to the spot of the attack. At the interrogation, Balwal realized that Bashir wasn¡¯t in it for the money or adventure but was committed to the cause. He was also puritanical. ¡®Our officer showed him photos of Idrees Bhai and Insha Jan together. He was in utter disbelief that a man whom he revered could be cosy with women other than his wife,¡¯ a senior official at the NIA headquarters is quoted as saying.

The shock of betrayal Bashir felt put the last piece of the puzzle in place. Soon after, he told Balwal: ¡°Aapko kuch batana hai¡± (I have something to tell you). ¡°Idrees Bhai is actually Umar Farooq and he is Masood Azhar¡¯s nephew and the son of one of the hijackers of the IC-814 plane. He is the one who planned Pulwama.¡± That was what the NIA needed to establish that Idrees Bhai was none other than Umar Farooq, the Jaish commander who had planned the attack.