The Jammu and Kashmir Police have set up a special investigation team to look into how a special police officer managed to steal weapons from the official residence of a legislator in Srinagar last week, Greater Kashmir reported on Tuesday. This came a day after it was reported that the officer, a resident of Shopian’s Zainpora village, has joined the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militant group.
Special Police Officer Adil Bashir, who was guarding the residence of Peoples Democratic Party MLA Aijaz Ahmad Mir in the city’s Jawahar Nagar area, decamped with at least nine weapons on Friday.
Superintendent of police (South Srinagar) will head the investigation team and will have the liberty to visit any southern district to “corroborate evidences collected so far” and quiz suspects, said an unidentified senior police officer. The team may also question Mir to ensure a foolproof investigation, the officer added.
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Munir Khan said the special investigation team would consist of experts from every field “since the case is about weapon loot and not related to murder or theft”.
“The primary focus of the SIT will be to find out where the criminal conspiracy was hatched and how it was executed,” said Khan. Earlier, he had said Bashir executed the plan with the help of a civilian who has been identified and will be arrested soon.
Bashir was employed without proper verification, Rising Kashmir quoted another unidentified official as saying. The police are reportedly trying to find out at whose behest he got the job. All the personal security officers engaged by Mir have been suspended and detained for questioning, the official added.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Police on Monday detained a Kashmiri student and released another in connection with the incident, reported Rising Kashmir. Gazi Ahmed Malik, a resident of Shopian, is in police custody in Mohali while his classmate, Mir Imran of Pulwama, was released on Tuesday.
They were detained on the basis of information provided by the cargo unit of Jammu and Kashmir Police’s Special Operations Group. “I was let off and handed over to the college authorities after a day of detention while Gazi is still in police custody,” said Imran, claiming that the special police officer is related to Gazi.
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