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Hemant Kumar Lohia’s home employee is the principle accused within the killing, which has additionally been claimed by a insurgent group.
Police in Indian-administered Kashmir say they’ve arrested the principle suspect within the killing of the area’s prime jail official.
The physique of Hemant Kumar Lohia, 57, was discovered on Monday evening beneath suspicious circumstances on the dwelling of his buddy within the metropolis of Jammu within the southern a part of Indian-administered Kashmir.
In a tweet on Tuesday, the police mentioned they’ve arrested Lohia’s home employee, 23-year-old Yasir Ahmad, as a suspect after “a serious manhunt”.
“Interrogation of the accused has began,” the police assertion posted on Twitter added.
The Folks’s Anti-Fascist Entrance (PAFF), which police say is an offshoot of the Pakistan-based armed group, Jaish-e-Muhammad, has claimed accountability for the homicide.
“Our particular squad carried out an intelligence-based operation in Udaiwala in Jammu,” mentioned a press release posted by the PAFF on social media. “That is only a starting of such excessive profile operations.”
Al Jazeera couldn’t independently confirm the authenticity of the PAFF assertion. Ahmad’s hyperlinks with the insurgent group haven’t but been established by the authorities.
The police, nonetheless, denied any terrorist angle behind the killing. “No terror act is clear as per preliminary investigation however thorough probe is on to rule out any risk,” a press release launched by the police mentioned.
Police mentioned the weapon used to slit Lohia’s throat has been seized with some paperwork suggesting the home employee could have had psychological well being issues.
“Preliminary investigations reveal that he (Ahmad) was fairly aggressive in his behaviour and was additionally beneath melancholy as per sources,” they mentioned.
The police assertion mentioned safety digicam footage collected from the scene of the crime confirmed the suspect working away from the home moments after Lohia was killed.
Residence minister’s go to
The PAFF assertion additionally mentioned Lohia’s killing was a “small reward” to India’s federal dwelling affairs minister Amit Shah, who arrived in Indian-administered Kashmir on Monday on a three-day go to.
Forward of the go to, suspected rebels carried out two separate assaults within the final three days.
On Monday, a financial institution supervisor escaped unharmed after he was shot at by attackers in Baramulla district. A day earlier, a policeman was killed and a paramilitary soldier wounded once they have been attacked by suspected rebels in Pulwama district.
Shah is near Prime Minister Narendra Modi and was instrumental in stripping India’s solely Muslim-majority area of its restricted autonomy in 2019. The transfer divided the area into two federally managed territories and kickstarted a collection of legal guidelines and insurance policies which Kashmiris say are aimed toward altering the demography of the area and denying them rights over their lands and livelihoods.
The disputed Himalayan area of Kashmir is managed in components by India and Pakistan, however claimed by each the South Asian nuclear powers in full. Since their independence from British rule in 1947, the 2 nations have fought two of their three full-scale wars over Kashmir.
Because the late Nineteen Eighties, Kashmiri rebels have been waging an armed rise up in opposition to Indian rule with an intention to both merge with Pakistan or create an impartial Kashmir nation. Tens of hundreds of individuals have been killed within the battle since 1989.
Whereas rebels typically goal Indian authorities officers deployed within the area, Lohia’s killing is the primary focusing on of a high-ranking official in a number of years.
Lohia was appointed to take cost of the prisons in Indian-administered Kashmir in August this yr. He was residing at his buddy’s home together with his household since his official residence was present process renovations.
The suspect, Ahmad, who’s from the area’s Ramban district, had began working for Lohia six months in the past.
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