Promiscuity believed to be behind Kishtwar hotelier’s murder: Police

JAMMU : Kishtwar police, in a major breakthrough, claimed to have cracked the blind murder case of a local hotelier asserting that the victim was killed because of his intimacy with the wife of his tenant.

The police have secured the arrest of accused, along with recovery of the weapon of crime, a pistol.

Ishtiaq Ahmed Dar, a hotel owner, earned the ire of Muzzaffer Hussain Kamal, a stationery shopkeeper and his tenant, leading to the murder on March 9 near the Kishtwar Jamia Masjid.

Senior Superintendent of Police Abrar Choudhary said that in late 2017, Dar's daughter was undergoing a graduation course from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and had her examination centre at Drabshallah, a town in Kishtwar district.

Kamal's wife was also undergoing the same graduation course and so Dar used used to drive both her and his own daughter to the exam centre and bring them back.

"During this period the deceased started developing intimacy with the wife of the accused and the process continued for months," the officer said.

"According to the accused, Dar started openly praising the wife of the accused in front of him shamelessly... It became totally unbearable to see the forced relations of Dar with his (Kamal's) wife."
Kamal disclosed he had a foreign made pistol, which he had got from Aamir Kamal, a local terrorist of the Hizbul Mujahideen.

"On March 9, the accused made up his mind to eliminate Dar," the officer said.

While briefing media persons the SSP Kishtwar disclosed that the police on the basis of various suspicions and clues rounded up a large number of suspects including some females for questioning.

After on the basis of specific clues zeroed in on one of the suspects who was identified as Muzzaffer Hussain Kamal son of Master Wali Mohd Kamal, 66-Kamal Mohallah Kishtwar.

The accused during his interrogation confessed that he killed the deceased for having illicit relation with his wife.

The police on the disclosure of accused after his arrest has recovered the weapon of office- a foreign pistol with one live cartridge and a magazine.

The officer said forensic experts from Jammu and Chandigarh joined the investigation as the murder triggered a furore in the trading community.

The SSP has congratulated the people of Kishtwar town for maintaining the complete peace after this gruesome murder. He also thanked the people for fully co-operating the police during investigations of this highly sensational and difficult blind murder case.