SRINAGAR: A court in Srinagar has admitted a fresh plea seeking an investigation into the murder of Satish Tickoo. The case involves the erstwhile militant, Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate. The plea seeks the state and status of the police case registered in the murder.
The petition was filed by the Tickoo family on March 30. Their lawyer Ustav Bains flew from Delhi to file the case. Tickoo was killed on February 2, 1990.
“It was the first hearing of the murder trial. The court hearing was very positive for the family. We appraised the court that it’s a serious matter,” Bains told reporters. “Tickoo was killed in cold blood by Karate. We are hopeful there will be justice. It has taken 31 years for the family to finally seek justice and a formal trial into the murder.”
The next hearing of the case is slated for April 16.
Bains, after filing the plea, told reporters that Karate had already confessed to the crime in an interview. “Tickoo was the first victim of Karate,” he said, insisting that Tickoo hope they will get justice.
Karate was arrested by BSF along with two others on June 22, 1990. In October 2006, he was released on indefinite bail after the Supreme Court quashed his detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA). He was re-arrested by the federal investigator NIA in 2019 on charges of terror funding after the Pulwama attack.
Karate has admitted on camera to murdering 30 to 40 Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 but later claimed that the statement was made under duress and he never killed any Pandits in Kashmir.
