THE KASHMIR MILITANT ATTACK TO THE REPORTER AND GUN GOWN

The Jammu and Kashmir police on Wednesday said it made “significant headway” in investigating the killing of Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhariby identifying the gunmen, a blogger who ran a smear campaign against Mr. Bukhari, and arresting a militant from an encounter site in south Kashmir.

A top police official told The Hindu that the three armed bikers, who were captured on several CCTvs in busy Lal Chowk in Srinagar on the day of the killing, have been identified by “matching the pictures” and “human intelligence”.

“Two locals are involved in the killing. There are strong pointers that one biker wearing spectacles is from a village in Kulgam. Another wearing helmet too is from south Kashmir,” a top police official said.

He said the CCTV footage assembled from several locations are being “pieced together”. The third militant, sitting in between the driver and the pillion rider “is a foreign militant”. 

“There is a striking resemblance with escaped Lashkar-e-Taiba militant Naveed Jutt. The black band on the wrist, the make-up, the muscular biceps, all point at Jutt. However, the identification is still the subject of investigation,” said another official.

The arrest of an LeT militant in south Kashmir’s Kulgam recently has helped the investigators, the official said.

Meanwhile, the blogger, whom the police believe is a militant from Srinagar and based in Pakistan now, has been identified. The blogger ran a smear campaign against Mr. Bukhari in June, just ahead of his killing.

Mr. Bukhari was killed along with his two police guards outside his office on June 14.

Both the United Jehad Council (UJC) and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) have denied any role in the assassination. “Bukhari’s killing cannot be blamed on his detractors,” UJC head Syed Salahhuddin said on Tuesday.