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Bullet-riddled body of 23-year-old found

SRINAGAR: Days after a youth’s body was found with around 300 pellets, another mysterious death was reported in Kashmir on Sunday.

Published on: Aug 8, 2016, 10:00:51 IST
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SRINAGAR: Days after a youth’s body was found with around 300 pellets, another mysterious death was reported in Kashmir on Sunday.

HT Image
HT Image

Residents of Chewa Kalan village in Pulwama found a bullet-riddled body of a 23-year-old youth on Sunday morning.

Identified as Bilal Ahmad Malik, the family said he had left home to visit his relatives in a neighbouring village. They said his motorcycle was missing.

According to Rayees Mohammad Bhat, SP Pulwama, the body bore three bullet wounds. “Initial reports suggest the youth was killed from a close range,” Bhat said.

Police registered a case against “unidentified gunmen” but are not ruling out “other angles” as well. “There were no protests in the area, or any presence of police or security forces,” the officer said.

Reyaz Ahmad Shah, a bank ATM guard of old city, was found dead under mysterious circumstances near Shri Maharja Hari Singh Hospital in Srinagar on August 2.

Police said he was shot by a pellet gun from close quarters and had a deep wound in his abdomen. An official of health department, aware of the autopsy report, said that there were multiple pellets inside Shah’s body. Some reports suggested that he had 300 pellets in his body, piercing his vital organs.

Calling the killings a “new trend”, Hurriyat spokesman asked people to be extremely cautious in “such a scenario” and avoid travelling alone and late in the night.

Meanwhile, a civil court again issued a non-bailable warrant against SSP Srinagar for failing to file an FIR against police officer Yasir Qadri accused in the death of a youth.

The court said, “It is very unfortunate that protectors of law have themselves become violators of the law and are willfully disobeying the orders of the court.”

PANDITS GET THREAT

Posters threatening Kashmiri Pandits have surfaced near the transit accommodations for government employees in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, asking them to leave the Valley or be ready to face consequences.

Typed on an unsigned letterhead of a lesser-known organisation called Lashkar-e-Islam, the posters said: “No space for Kashmiri Pandits who want another Israel in Kashmir to kill Kashmiri Muslims.”

The poster went viral after it was shared on Twitter. Police dismissed the posters as handiwork of miscreants and said the militant organisation has no presence in south Kashmir.

  • Toufiq Rashid
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Toufiq Rashid

    Chief of bureau of HT at Srinagar, Toufiq has been covering the volatile state of Kashmir for the past seven years. Was working as special correspondent in Indian Express in New Delhi, covering health and wellness. Has done human interest stories from across the country for almost a decade.Read More

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