Pulwama attack: Maruti team holds key to ownership details of car

Srinagar, Feb 20: With the investigators more or less ascertaining that a Maruti Eeco was used in the Pulwama attack, a team from the automobile manufacturer visited the blast site to gather more details.

Investigators came to the conclusion that an Eco was used after a bumper of the vehicle was found at the site. At first it was said that a Scorpio was used in the attack. However investigators later zeroed down the vehicle to an Eco.

During the first round of investigation, the probe agencies hit a dead end. After finding a number on the bumper, a team were led up to a person, who was believed to be the owner of the car. However, it was later ascertained that the person in question still had the car with him.

Now, the team from Maruti would help in tracing the origin of the car. Some of the remains found on the site have markings and numbers. The team would also look into their data base to find out when those parts were used in the assembly line of the vehicle in question.

NIA sources informed OneIndia that the Maruti team would trace the vehicle owner to the vehicle dealer, from where the ownership details would be collected. Getting more details regarding the vehicle would be crucial to the case.

Currently, there is very little known about the key conspirators. The NIA says that the attack was masterminded by Mohammad Umair, the nephew of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, Maulana Masood Azhar. However there are many more players in this case and getting the ownership details of the car would be the first step in unearthing the larger picture, the NIA officer also said.