The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday identified and accused three militants of being responsible for the killing of Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhari on June 14. Two of them are local militants from South Kashmir and the third is a Pakistani, an unidentified police officer told The Indian Express.
Bukhari was killed along with his two of his personal security officers in Srinagar’s Press Enclave. Three suspects were seen on CCTV footage escaping on a motorcycle. The Srinagar Police had sought the general public’s help in identifying the suspects.
The Pakistani militant is Naveed Jatt, who escaped from police custody from Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital in Srinagar in February, police officials told the newspaper. “Two locals are involved in the killing,” a senior police official told The Hindu. “There are strong pointers that one biker wearing spectacles is from a village in Kulgam. Another wearing a helmet too is from south Kashmir.”
The police also said they have identified a Pakistan-based blogger from Srinagar who “started a smear campaign” against Bukhari. The blog had published a post titled “Touts who are betraying the Kashmir struggle” 11 days before Bukhari was gunned down. The blog has also targeted other journalists, businessmen, politicians and activists, berating them for betraying the “struggle of Kashmir” and for carrying out the “dirty work of defaming [the] Kashmir cause”.
The police released photographs of four suspects in the case the day after the assassination. They also arrested a suspect on June 15 but later said he had no role in the attack.
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