Kathua: No breakthrough in probe into mysterious deaths, disappearances

Three days after the our bodies of three cousins had been recovered from a river (some accounts say waterfall) within the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir’s Kathua, there isn’t a clue about who killed them and why. Union minister Jitendra Singh, nonetheless, asserted that the three cousins — the youngest merely 14 — who had gone to attend a marriage had been killed by militants.

J&Ok chief minister Omar Abdullah is not going to hazard a guess and would quite wait till the investigation factors to militant involvement. The ‘shocked and saddened’ lieutenant-general of J&Ok has ordered a ‘thorough and clear’ investigation, whereas opposition PDP (Peoples’ Democratic Social gathering) chief and former CM Mehbooba Mufti finds the loss of life of ‘almost a dozen civilians’, each Muslim and Hindu, in Kathua deeply alarming.

“…the police appear extra targeted on extracting false confessions from victims like Makhan Din whereas the true perpetrators are nonetheless at giant. Roughly 30 people have been charged until date, beneath the PSA or UAPA, typically with scant or no proof. There are indications that sure disruptive parts presumably working each inside & throughout the border could also be stoking communal tensions on this delicate border district,” Mufti posted on X.

As protests erupted in Jammu and folks demanded to know what was being achieved to take care of militancy, CM Abdullah questioned why authorities stopped deputy CM Surinder Kumar Chaudhary from calling on the victims’ households.

A particular try was made to politicise the killings when the police allowed BJP legislators and the chief of the opposition within the Meeting, Sunil Kumar Sharma of the BJP, to go forward and name on the bereaved households.

Whereas Deen Mohammad (15) and his cousin Rehmat Ali (12) have been lacking from Kathua’s Bilawal space since 27 February, the our bodies of Varun Singh (15) and his uncles Yogesh Singh (32) and Darshan Singh (40) had been recovered from a waterfall within the distant Malhar space of Kathua on Saturday, 8 March, three days after they went lacking from a marriage celebration.

Final month, the our bodies of two different individuals — Shamsher (37) and Roshan (45) — had been present in Kohag village, with autopsy experiences indicating strangulation.

The circumstances surrounding these deaths are beneath investigation by the police, the chief minister instructed the meeting. “What occurred, the way it occurred and why it occurred is a matter of investigation which is occurring. Discussing it within the Home is not going to be applicable. An MLA (Rameshwar Singh) needed to go and meet households of the deceased, and what occurred to him is thought to everybody. He didn’t go there with political intent, and but he was manhandled,” Abdullah stated.

“Makes an attempt are being made to provide a political color (to the incidents). I’m stunned that chief of the opposition Sunil Sharma was allowed to go to the bereaved households however deputy CM Surinder Choudhary and an impartial MLA had been stopped.

“I spoke to the deputy CM on Sunday morning as he had deliberate to go to Kathua and knowledgeable the administration about his programme. However police deployment outdoors his residence was elevated on Sunday, and he was instructed that his go to was not applicable at this juncture,” Abdullah stated.

The CM additionally stated he instructed Choudhary to talk to the Jammu zone inspector-general of police, however the officer was busy with the go to of the Union dwelling secretary. He then spoke to the Kathua senior superintendent of police who instructed him the scenario was tense and that he ought to anticipate just a few days, Abdullah stated.

Information companies quoted Sharma as saying outdoors the meeting that he was continually in contact with Union dwelling minister Amit Shah and had visited the world to guarantee the individuals on behalf of the house minister.

Remarkably, neither the CM nor the deputy CM, or for that matter the chief of the opposition, spoke to L-G Manoj Sinha, who’s virtually heading the administration and the police. Are they not on speaking phrases? Can’t they decide up the cellphone and converse to the L-G?

Equally considerably, the inspector-general of police of the Jammu division had no time to talk to the deputy CM whereas the chief of the opposition was in fixed contact with the Union dwelling minister or his workplace.

In the meantime, the thriller surrounding the deaths is but to be unravelled as of the afternoon of Tuesday, 11 March.