Two cases of selected killings in Kashmir cracked: Police

NIA may take on probe

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir police on Tuesday said that two out of the four cases of selected killings in Kashmir by killing two militants who were involved in the act.
A senior police official in an encounter at Hajin in northern district of Bandipora, a Lashkar-e-Toiba (TRF) Imtiyaz Ahmed was killed, said, “he was involved in the killing of sumo driver Muhammad Shafi alias Sonu. This way with the elimination of Imtiyaz, the first case of civilian killings stands solved.”
Similarly, he said that one of the three militants killed in Shopian encounter, identified as Mukhtar Shah, who was involved in the killing of a non-local vendor at Lal Bazar area of Srinagar.
The slain vendor was identified as Virender Paswan of Bihar. “With the killing of Mukhtar Shah, the second case of targeted killings stands solved,” he said.
A top cop said that the other two cases would also be solved as the security forces have stepped up human and technical intelligence.
“The movement of suspects is being tracked and we are hopeful that rest of the two cases would also be resolved soon,” he said.
Meanwhile, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case to “bust the militant networks in Kashmir.”
“This particular case is about those involved in anti-national activities and harbouring militants by providing them logistics etc,” said official sources.
They said if the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) decided, the NIA would take over the case of selected killings in Kashmir.
Pertinent to mention that between October to October 5, seven civilians including a famous chemist, a non-local vendor, two teachers including a female member of Sikh community were killed.
The spate of killing’s triggered a fresh wave of panic in the Valley forcing Security agencies to put in extra efforts to bust the modules involved in the selected killings.