Selfie clicked by Ammar, who is on the extreme right with Umar is in the centre

To bury all evidence, Jaish-e-Mohammed top brass had instructed their key planner and executioner, Umar Farooq, to destroy mobile phone soon after Pulwama attack

Jammu: Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) leadership in Pakistan wanted their foot soldiers to erase all digital footprints related to Pulwama bombing so that India was left with no evidence to nail Pakistan.

Jaish commander Umar Farooq - the one who executed Pulwama bombing - was instructed by Pakistan based top brass to destroy mobile phone soon after the terror attack.

The idea behind this instruction was to wipe out all evidence related to Pulwama terror attack, leaving Indian investigating agencies high and dry.

One Mistake That Cost Pakistan Dearly? 

However, overconfident Umar Farooq chose not to destroy his mobile phone. This mistake helped NIA unearth conspiracy behind orchestrated killings that led to India strike in Pakistan's territory.

On March 29, days after Pulwama bombing, Umar Farooq was eliminated during the gun battle with security forces in South Kashmir area. The mobile phone that was recovered from slain ultra by the police later proved to be gold mine of information for NIA sleuths probing Pulwama attack.

The mobile phone was partially destroyed during the encounter. However, with the help of forensic experts, NIA was able to retrieve maximum data from the phone. The NIA team that was groping in dark finally was able to hit jackpot as digital evidence collected from Umar's cell phone helped them identify other key players too.

His mobile phone had photographs of every step of the planning from infiltration into India to execution. This helped NIA to gather incriminating evidence from the phone.

Retrieval of numerous photos, videos and conversation between Umar Farooq and Jaish top leadership further helped NIA blow lid of Pakistan's role in planning and executing Pulwama bombing - dubbed the worst one to hit volatile Kashmir Valley in decades.

Pulwama Was Planned The Day Umar Farooq Infiltrated Into Kashmir 

NIA had a tough time piecing together the plot that finally exposed Pakistan's role in the dastardly terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were martyred.

As per NIA charge-sheet, planning started in April 2018, ten months before the deadly suicide bombing, when Masood Azhar's nephew Umar Farooq infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir from Samba sector.

On Feb 5, 2019, Umar Farooq along with Adil and Sameer Dar manufactured improvised explosive device (IED) to target CRPF convoy. Trio clicked pix with aluminium powder smeared on their faces.

Umar shared this photographs including one of IED and RDX with Masood Azhar and Ammar Alvi - who were then addressing a crowd that had gathered to celebrate Kashmir solidarity day - to convey that they were well prepared for the terror strike. 

As per charge sheet, WhatsApp message retrieved by NIA revealed that Ammar Alvi after seeing these photographs gave the green signal for suicide bombing and instructed Umar to destroy his cell phone soon after. However, the next day due to snowfall they had to shelve the plan. Finally, on February 14, 2019, they carried out brutal attacks that almost brought India and Pakistan on brink of war.