| Families of slain cousins accuse cops of hushing-up case | | 3 yrs on, Anantnag police clueless in double murder | | Saahil Suhail
Early Times Report
Anantnag, July 21: Three years after two cousins were found dead in mysterious circumstances in Mattan area of this south Kashmir district, police is yet to complete its investigation into the case.
Families of the slain are accusing police of hushing-up the case under political pressure. Sabzar Ahmad Bhat, 24, of Mattan and Muzaffar Ahmad Keenu, 26, of Dahruna, Dooru, were found dead at the banks of Lidder river on October 19, 2011.
Sabzar was an auto-rickshaw driver while Muzaffar was running a tent business. They were close to each other since their childhood, according to their families.
Police had ruled out murder and suggested that the cause of the deaths was due to consumption of drugs.
"The postmortem of the deceased has been conducted on the directions of Deputy Commissioner concerned. We have also sent the samples for forensic examination, but the preliminary report does not suggest that the duo has been beaten or hit by some hard object. We have recovered two liquor bottles, one empty bottle of cold drink and some packets of varnish from the spot and are investigating the case from all angles," then the SP operations Zahid Malik had said.
However, families of the slain refute police claim.
Irshad Husain Keenu, brother of Muzaffar accused police of hushing-up the case. "Police hushed-up the murder case of my brother and cousin. A National Conference leader mounted pressure on police and sabotaged the investigation," he said.
He said, from last four years "we are being told that the case is being investigated, but Allah knows when they will complete the investigation."
"Police came up with a statement that they recovered liquor bottles from the spot and suggested that they died because of consuming excessive liquor, but the FSL report which we have obtained after filling an RTI application contests the claim of police and clearly mentions that no poison was detected," he said.
Irshad said that on the same day police detained Master Gowher Hussain, a close relative of a National Conference leader. He was, however, set free after 12 days. "Hussain had called my brother in the evening on that fateful day. That was the last call my brother received. So we suspect his hand into the killing of my brother and cousin," he added. Haleema Banoo, mother of other slain youth Sabzar Ahmad said that she would fight till the "killer" of her son gets punishment. "We want justice. We will do whatever we can to expose the killers," she said.SP Operations Anantnag, who is investigating the case, said that he couldn't provide exact details about it. |
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