In a major breakthrough into the high-profile assassination of Kashmir’s head priest Moulvi Farooq, the State Investigation Agency (SIA) of J&K Police on Tuesday arrested two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists allegedly involved in his killing after 33 years of the crime.
Moulvi Farooq was killed at his residence in Srinagar’s Nigeen on 21 May 1990.
Javaid Bhat and Zahoor Ahmed Bhat were hiding in Pakistan and Nepal all these years to evade arrest. Both have been arrested and handed over to the CBI as proclaimed offenders, said RR Swain, special DGP CID.
They had barged into the bedroom of the Mirwaiz and opened indiscriminate firing leading to the death of Mirwaiz.
Swain said on May 21, 1990, a case on the killing of the Mirwaiz was lodged in police station Nigeen under FIR 61/1990. The case was later transferred to the CBI. The CBI had presented a chargesheet against one accused after arresting him before the TADA court after which the court awarded a life sentence to him.
He said that investigation into the case revealed that Hizbul Mujahideen commander Abdullah Bangroo had hatched a conspiracy to kill Mirwaiz. “Bangroo and his associate, another Hizb commander, were killed in encounters while one accused was serving a life sentence.
“One of the two arrested Hizb militants, Zahoor Ahmed Bhat, was the one who had entered into the bedroom of Mirwaiz and opened fire at him,” the top CID officer said. He, however, did not disclose where the two were arrested.