The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday formed a Special Investigation Team to conduct an inquiry into the killing of lawyer Babar Qadri in Srinagar, PTI reported.
Jammu and Kashmir Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said at a press conference that Qadri was killed by two suspected militants posing as clients. Kumar told the media that the attackers went to Qadri’s house on Thursday evening and told him that they wanted his advice on an accident case. When the lawyer came out, they shot him four times in the head. He died on his way to the hospital.
“I went to the [Qadri’s] house this morning and inspected the scene of the crime,” Kumar said. “We have formed an SIT headed by SP [superintendent of police] Hazratbal. It will include a legal expert apart from senior officers of the police.”
He added: “The SIT has been asked to investigate the matter and solve the case immediately and ascertain which militant outfit was involved in the incident. We will arrest them as soon as possible and if we cannot arrest them, we will try to neutralise them in an encounter. This case is a top priority for us.”
Kumar said that one of Qadri’s relatives, who is also a police officer, had advised him to relocate to a safer place since he was attacked in 2018 too, but he refused. The suspects had fired upon his car then. “Local police officers also said they were requesting him to shift for the last one week as the locality was congested and the police patrolling was difficult,” he said.
The officer claimed that Qadri did not tag the Kashmir police in his SOS tweet. “I have seen the tweet by him about danger to his life,” Kumar said. “Unfortunately he had not tagged the Kashmir police in that tweet, but Jammu police.”
On September 21, Qadri had tweeted a screenshot of a message from a man on Facebook and said that he was spreading wrong statements about him working with the “agencies”, which could threaten his life. He had tagged the Police Media Centre in Jammu.
Apart from his practice as a lawyer, Qadri was often seen on television debates. Political leaders in Kashmir expressed grief over his killing. “The assassination of Babar Qadri this evening is tragic & I unequivocally condemn it,” Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had tweeted. “The sense of tragedy is all the more because he warned of the threat. Sadly his warning was his last tweet.”
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party Mehbooba Mufti also mourned Qadri’s death. “As Kashmiris, we write condolence messages day after day,” her daughter Iltija Mufti tweeted on her behalf. “Party workers, journalists, lawyers, innocent people who are killed for no reason. Sorrow and mourning outweigh happy occasions or any semblance of normalcy. RIP [Rest in Peace] Babar Qadri and may Allah Ta’aala give strength to his family.”
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