Rajouri cop solve youth’s murder in a day

Shyam Sood

Rajouri, November 30

The Rajouri police have solved the blind murder of a youth within 24 hours. The youth’s body was found in a dry rivulet near the Rajouri-Budhal road on November 28.

The accused has been identified as Mohammad Rashid, a resident of Chingus in Rajouri.

Rashid, a bus driver, had engaged the victim, Ghulam Hussain, 23, as a conductor. Hussain was a resident of Kunderdhan in Reasi district.

Haseeb Mughal, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Rajouri, under whose supervision the case was solved, said on November 27, the accused was on his way to Mahore village in Reasi along with the deceased to ferry people for a public rally organised by the National Conference (NC). No passenger was in the bus.

As the bus reached near Faiaz Morh, about 10 km from Rajouri, the deceased requested the driver to allow him to drive.

At this, as per the driver, both had some dispute that led to a scuffle and the accused hit Hussain on the head with an iron rod, resulting in his instant death.

Apprehending trouble, the accused threw the body in a dry rivulet and around 11.30 am, left for his onward journey. Later, some people saw the body and informed the police.

Mohammad Bashir, Station House Officer of the Kotranka police station, rushed to spot and sent the body to the Community Health Centre at Kandi where the deceased remain unidentified.

“The police informed the people on a public address system about the unidentified body. One Hakim Din, a resident of Jaglano, identified the deceased as Ghulam Hussain of Kunderdhan in Mahore tehsil of Reasi district,” said the SSP.

The police then contacted the family of the victim and conducted a postmortem on the body in their presence after completing the legal formalities.

The postmortem report revealed a large number of wounds on the body. The police also recovered a chit from the body carrying a mobile number and a vehicle number.

The SHO verified the cell number and the vehicle number and it was established that the numbers belonged to the accused driver.

A police party was rushed to the Mahore area to nab the driver, who was later brought to the Kotranka police station.

“During interrogation, the accused confessed to his crime. He said he had had some dispute with the deceased and after killing the deceased, he had thrown his body into the rivulet. He said he had spent the November 27 night at Budhal and left for Mahore in the morning next day,” said the SHO.

The police also seized the mobile phone of the deceased from the bus.

The accused has been booked in a murder case under Section 302 of the RPC.