2019 Pulwama terror accused dies of cardiac arrest in Jammu hospital

Srinagar: Bilal Ahmed Kuchay, a 27-year-old under-trial prisoner implicated in the Pulwama terror attack that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel on February 14, 2019, died of cardiac arrest at Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu, on Monday night.

Official sources confirmed that Kuchay, who had been transferred from Kishtwar District Jail to GMC Jammu the previous week due to health complications, was suffering from Guillain-Barré syndrome—a condition where the immune system attacks the nerves, leading to weakness and paralysis.

Kuchay, son of Gh Nabi Kuchay and a resident of Hajibal Kakapora, had been in custody since July 5, 2020, following his arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for alleged connections to the Pulwama attack. His brother, Muzaffar, confirmed that he had been undergoing treatment before passing away on Monday evening.

As a sawmill owner, Bilal was accused of sheltering terrorists, providing them a safe haven, and supplying them with high-end mobile phones used for coordinating with their leadership in Pakistan. Kuchey and 18 other accused in the case were charge-sheeted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on August 25, 2020. He was among the seven accused arrested in the case.

On Feb 14, 2019, Adil Ahmed Dar alias ‘Waqas Commando’, an alleged JeM cadre, rammed an explosives-laden SUV into a bus that was part of a 78-vehicle convoy carrying over 2,500 CRPF personnel on their way from Jammu to Srinagar — at Lethapora in Pulwama district.

To avenge the killings, Indian Air Force (IAF) conducted an aerial strike at a terror training centre in Balakot of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on February 26, 2019.