Srinagar
Demanding immediate arrest of the main accused involved in double murder case, locals from Seelu area of Sopor’s North Kashmir’s town of District Baramulla staged a protest in Srinagar alleging that both police and army saved the ‘real’ assailant as according to the protesters the accused works for them.
On June 20, 2014, two cousin of Sopore’s Naikoo family fell to the bullets after a “land dispute” broke out in their family.
While narrating the incident, Faza Begum, the mother of one of the slain man said: “The killing was executed over the land issue. The land belongs to us. But Ghulam Nabi Naikoo and his wife Saleema Begum claimed the ownership of the same land through forged documents. The culprits had managed to transfer total 9 acres of the land.”
Once the ‘fraud over land grab’ surfaced, the family of deceased persons filed suit against the culprit in the Baramulla Sessions Court.
“After the first hearing, when we came out of court, the culprit Mehraj-u-din Khan alias Raj Khan (the family relative) threatened the family of dire consequences.”
She said that before the first hearing in the court, the main land ‘fraudulent’ Ghulam Nabi Naikoo came with 30 to 40 men and barged into the house and beat inmates irrespective of their gender and age. “Many family members suffered severe injuries in that vicious attack,” she said.
Another family member Manzoor Ahmed shortly after the attack they lodged an FIR under section 307 in Sopore Police Station. “After taking police help, we thought we are safe now, but on the night of June 20, 2014 when we were busy in talking to each other, Raj Khan along two other men in fatigues and masked faces barged into our house and like mad men resorted to indiscriminate firing. As a result, Nazir Ahmad Naikoo died on the spot while other family members were left baldy injured. Nazir’s cousin Shabir, who was the witness in court was also severely injured and was referred to SMHS hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries the next day.”
The protesting family told local news agency CNS that the district police authorities after few days of the incident registered a case vide FIR number 95/2014 U/S 302, 307 RPC and 7/27 Arms Act and had apprehended Raja Khan of Khan Mohalla, Mundji, Zangire Sopore from his house.
The male and female protesters said that police authorities during a press briefing had said that in the process of investigation it surfaced that the accused Mehraj-u-Din used the services of local HM militant Javaid Ahmad Matoo of Sopore town.
The protesters said that there was no role of local militant in the attack. “In an attempt to save the main accused Mehraj-u-Din who according to protesters works for police and Army, police blamed local militant. My father himself saw and identified the accused and yet he was freed and no case was registered against him. When we contacted Investigating Officer of the case, he failed to justify the release of the main accused and even said: ‘Your protests can’t move the pillars of the system,’ ” the brother of the deceased said.
They said that that the irony is that police implicated two innocent youth in this double murder case just to save the real culprit. “They were freed after a year when we deposed in the favour in the court of law,” the protesters said and appealed Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to personally intervene in the matter and initiate action against those who wants to save the skin of the real accused.
The protesters demanded immediate arrest of Mehraj-u-din Khan alias Raj Khan.
