Jammu & Kashmir: Driver killed as stone-pelting claims its first casualty

The ubiquitous gangs of stone pelters claimed their first casualty when they attacked a minibus with rocks and bricks, leaving its 55-year-old driver dead on the outskirts of Srinagar on Monday evening.

Police said Ali Mohammad Dagga was killed when he was on his way to Channapora from his home. Stone throwers rained rocks and bricks at his vehicle near Tengpora bypass. One of the stones hit Dagga in the forehead and he lost control of his vehicle, hitting an electric poll.

Dagga was evacuated to the nearby hospital where he later died, said a police spokesman.

Police have registered a case of murder under Section 302 Ranbir Penal Code (J&K version of Indian Penal Code) and a massive hunt has been launched to identify and nab the culprits responsible for the killing of the driver.

Meanwhile, Dagga’s daughters sang a heart-wrenching elegy for their father on Tuesday. Cries and shrieks rent the air when a group of men entered a room to take the body of Dagga for a burial bath. Outside the two room house, hundreds of people were waiting for the last rites of Dagga who has been toiling hard as a driver to run his family of five including two unmarried daughters.

“They are very poor people. The eldest daughter is 23-year-old who is not married. Another daughter is 19, and the son sells vegetables on a pushcart,” said NA Laway, a nephew of Dagga.