J&K police officer lynched outside mosque in Srinagar

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 23

A police officer was lynched to death by an unruly mob outside Srinagar city’s grand mosque in the wee hours of Friday.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mohammad Ayoub Pandit was on security duty in the area.

The incident happened in Nowhatta area at a time when the region was observing Shab-e-Qadar, a pious night when people seek forgiveness from Allah and hope for a better life. But the miscreants outside the Jamia Mosque bayed for the blood of the officer. 

According to preliminary reports, the officer, in civvies, had gone out see what happened when some people moved out of Jamia mosque raising slogans as Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar was expected to arrive at the mosque, a senior police official said.

It is at this point that a group of people confronted him, suspecting him to be an intelligence guy, witnesses said.

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As the mob caught hold of him, Ayoub fired a few shots from his service revolver to save himself, the official said.

As three people received injuries in the firing, the irate mob caught hold of him and stripped him naked before stoning him to death, sources said.

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The police official said such was the condition of the body that Ayoub’s son fainted after seeing the mutilated corpse, the official added.

The slain police officer is the younger brother of senior lawyer and Bar Association member Mohammad Abdullah Pandit.

The police official said the slain officer’s daughter had recently arrived from Bangladesh, where she is pursuing her studies, to celebrate Eid with the family.