The Jammu and Kashmir police have cracked the lynching case of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Mohammed Ayub Pandith and arrested 20 assailants who were part of the group "to welcome the Moderate Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq" on the fateful night of June 22.
The police have not ruled out questioning of the separatist leaders, saying that if the need arises, they will question anyone required in this case.
Pandith, 57, was stripped, paraded and lynched by a violent mob outside the Jamia Masjid at Nowhatta during Shab-e-Qadr (night of prayers during Ramzan).
Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Zone, Munir Ahmad Khan said that 20 assailants involved in the incident have been arrested thus far and one of the accused, Sajad Ahmad Gilkar alias Saja Bilu, was killed in an encounter on July 12 at Redbugh, Budgam.
"Gilkar was involved in 14 cases and detained under PSA thrice not only for stone-pelting but also for stabbing cases. After this incident, he went missing and we came to know on June 29 when he skipped the court hearing that he has become an active terrorist," Khan said.
Spelling out the sequence of events that led to the lynching of Pandith, Khan said it happened when a group of hooligans and miscreants were coming out of Jamia Masjid raising pro-Zakir Musa slogans and supposedly to welcome Farooq.
"It was on that occasion that four of the miscreants saw the DySP, who was checking the deployments since he was on duty for access control. When he came out of Jamia Masjid, these four guys called him, started questioning him and asked for his identity card, which he refused to give. They started heckling him and the number of miscreants swelled, and the rest is history," Khan added.
...& ANALYSIS
- It is significant to note that one of the accused in the case turned out to be a hardened terrorist who was killed in an encounter.
- This might point to the extent that the crowd was incited into lynching Pandith.
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 "Mohammed Ayub Pandith")
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