J&K Police had filed a charge sheet against him only after a reprimand from the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.Twenty-three years after seven people from Bandipore district of Jammu and Kashmir were killed by members of Ikhwan, the government-backed counterinsurgency militia of the 1990s, one of the “absconding” accused has been arrested from Kangan town in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.
The accused, Wali Mohammad Mir, was arrested on Tuesday after evading arrest for more than two decades, the police said on Wednesday.
J&K Police had filed a charge sheet against him only after a reprimand from the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
Confirming the arrest, Bandipore SP Rahul Malik said, “He frequently changed locations and was in hiding. We had constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to arrest him.”
The police said Mir was arrested on a tip-off about his presence in Barwala village of Kangan. A team of Sumbal police, led by the SHO, arrested him, they said.
“There were several arrest warrants issued by the District and Sessions Judge, Bandipore, but the accused was in hiding at unknown locations,” an officer said.
On October 5, 1996, seven members of three families were killed in Saderkoot-Bala village of Bandipore by gunmen from Ikhwan group. The assailants also injured five others. Witnesses had identified the killers as Abdul Rashid Parray, alias Rashid Billa, Wali Mohammad Mir, and Mohammad Ayub Dar.
The police had registered a case (FIR number 125 of 1996) against the accused, but did not allegedly follow up.
In 2015, the victims’ families moved the Jammu and Kashmir High Court seeking revival of investigation into the case. The High Court asked the police to immediately file chargesheet in the case. The government had informed the court that Parray and Mir were absconding, and Dar was working with the Territorial Army. The court had declared them proclaimed offenders.
