STATE TIMES NEWS
SRINAGAR: Investigators have not found Army’s involvement in kidnapping and subsequent killing of a 20-year-old engineering student whose mysterious murder triggered off violent protests in Peerbagh neighbourhood, in front of the Jammu and Kashmir Police Headquarters on the airport road here, on Thursday.
Well placed official sources revealed to STATE TIMES that the investigators have achieved breakthrough in the killing of Owais Bashir Malik within 24 hours of the recovery of his body. Even as some of the residents on Thursday alleged that Owais had been purportedly picked up by a unit of Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry headquartered at Rangreth, sources insisted that no involvement whatsoever of JAKLI or any other armed forces surfaced during the course of investigation.
Sources said that in all seven persons were rounded up by Police out of whom five including a girl student have been formally detained and interrogated. As the story revolves around a love affair and rivalry between the two youths, it was discovered that a student from Bandipora area managed to kidnap Owais with the help of three of his friends who severely tortured him to death before strangulation. The assassins also slit the throat of the student.
The body was thrown at a deserted place close to the railway track in Humhama. It was spotted in the morning on December 14th, leading to violent protest demonstrations on the airport road. The road remained blocked and 70 passengers missed their flights on Srinagar airport.
In addition to the registration of a murder case by Budgam Police Station, Government has ordered a magisterial inquiry to look into the cause of the death of the young engineering student.
SSP Budgam Fayaz Ahmad Lone refused to take questions as he claimed that the investigation was “still underway” and that it could “hamper the investigation”. He, however, confirmed that five of the accused have been arrested and subjected to sustained questioning. He confirmed that the allegations of kidnapping and killing against armed forces were “not substantiated” during the investigation which, according to him, was “running on a different track”. “We are sure to fully solve this mystery in the next couple of days”, SSP Budgam said.
