Kashmir police file murder case in stone pelting death

SRINAGAR/JAMMU - A 40-year-old government employee was killed Friday in stone pelting by supporters of hardline senior separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani in Batamalloo area of Srinagar. The state police Friday evening registered a case of murder in the incident.

Shafiq Ahmad Sheikh, a peon in the secondary school board, was killed after the public transport vehicle he was travelling in was attacked in the Batmalloo locality by stone-pelting protesters shouting anti-India slogans.

“Shafiq was hit on the head by a stone. He was immediately rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to injuries,” a police officer told IANS.

The government has decided to institute a probe into the incident and bring the “killers” to book, official sources said.

Official sources told IANS Friday evening that the state government has decided to set up a probe to trace the culprits behind the stone pelting that resulted in the death of a government employee.

This is the second death in stone-pelting frenzy in a little over two months in the Kashmir Valley.

The police had investigated the death of an infant due to mob violence in the north Kashmir district of Baramulla in February and booked four people on charges of murder.

“This time too, the government will book the culprits. Law will take its own course,” an official told IANS. He did not want to be identified as the government is yet to issue a formal order.

Dozens of Gilani supporters had come out of the Humza mosque in the Amira Kadal locality after the Friday prayers to take out a march and the police lobbed tear smoke shells and baton-charged them to foil the march. The protesters also pelted stones at police.

Geelani proposed to take out a protest march to the headquarters of the United Nations Military Observers Group (UNMOG) here.

Geelani was placed under house arrest in his uptown Hyderpora locality, but he came out of his house and tried to breach the security cordon.

“He was taken into custody and shifted to Humhaama police station,” another police officer said.

Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, chairman of the moderate Hurriyat Group, was also placed under house arrest in his Nigeen residence.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed grief at the death of the civilian and challenged the separatist leaders to also condemn the death. He said the civilian died because protests were called by the separatist leaders and their supporters.