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J&K reopens probe into killings of Kashmiri Pandits
A senior officer familiar with the development said SIA is already probing several high-profile old cases of attacks against Kashmiri Pandits.
The newly formed State Investigation Agency (SIA) in Jammu & Kashmir on Tuesday issued a notice seeking help from the public to reinvestigate the murder of retired judge Neelkanth Ganjoo in 1990, as it continues its probe into similar “old cases” of attacks on Kashmiri Pandits.
Sessions and district court judge Ganjoo, who sentenced to death J&K Liberation Front founder Maqbool Bhat in a murder case in August 1968, was shot dead by terrorists on November 4, 1989 in Srinagar. Bhat was hanged to death on February 11, 1984 at Tihar jail.
In its communique, the SIA appealed to the public to share any inputs that could help the investigation.
“In order to unearth the larger criminal conspiracy behind murder of Retired Judge, Neelkanth Ganjoo three decades ago, the State Investigation Agency (SIA) has appealed all persons familiar with facts or circumstances of this murder case to come forward and share any account of events which has direct or indirect bearing on the investigation of the instant case,” it said. The SIA assured the people that the identity of all informants will be kept secret and protected and they will be suitably rewarded.
A senior officer familiar with the development said SIA is already probing several high-profile old cases of attacks against Kashmiri Pandits. “The process has begun to investigate all the old cases which had been almost closed. Now, the time has come to ensure justice for families of victims,” the officer said.
In May this year, SIA tracked down and arrested two absconding terrorists who assassinated former Mirwaiz of Kashmir, Molvi Farooq, on May 21, 1990. “Recently, after more than three decades, the people who killed Mirwaiz Farooq were arrested and handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation,” the officer added.
Ganjoo’s family, however, said the reopening of the case has come “a little too late” and they don’t want “wounds to be scraped again.” “It’s little too late after 34 years of the incident. Now we don’t want our wounds to be scraped again,” SK Ganjoo, son of the slain former judge, told news agency ANI.
Former J&K deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta welcomed the probe. “It is good that he (Neelkanth Ganjoo) will get justice. The BJP government had already said that such things should be investigated. This was a conspiracy,” he told ANI.
Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti president Sanjay Tickoo urged the government to expedite the probe in other cases too. “The first investigating officers of all the cases should be called for information by SIA,” he said.
