NewDelhi: The accused involved in the murder of Jammu and Kashmir’s Director General (Prisons) Hemant Kumar Lohia has been held, Police said on Tuesday (October 4, 2022).
“In a major manhunt launched by J&K police throughout the night, the accused involved in murder case of Shri Hemant Lohia has been apprehended. Interrogation of the accused has started,” the police said in a tweet.
Lohia was found murdered late Monday night and his domestic, Yasir Lohar, 23, help had emerged as the main suspect in the case.
Multiple teams were constituted to arrest the suspected culprit Yasir, a resident of Halla-Dhandrath village in Ramban district.
Hemant Kumar Lohia was found dead with burn injuries on his body, his throat slit
Earlier in the day, Director General of Police Dilbag Singh told news agency PTI that the suspect had even attempted to set ablaze the body of 57-year-old Lohia, who was promoted and appointed as Director General of Prisons in the Union Territory in August.
Additional Director General of Police, Jammu zone, Mukesh Singh, who visited the house of Lohia at Udaiwala on the outskirts of Jammu, said the 1992-batch IPS officer was found dead with burn injuries on his body and his throat slit.
A preliminary examination of the crime scene indicated that Lohia must have been applying some oil on his foot which showed swelling. The killer suffocated Lohia to death and also used a broken ketchup bottle to slit his throat and later tried to set the body afire, he said.
The guards present at the residence of the officer saw the fire inside his room. They had to break open the door as it was locked from inside, the ADGP said.
He said the preliminary examination of the scene of crime points towards murder.
The officials said raids were conducted by special teams at different places to trace the domestic help, whose last location was found in the higher reaches of the Udhampur district.
The ADGP said the CCTV footage collected from the incident site shows the suspected accused running away after the commission of the crime.
“Lohar was working in this house for nearly six months. Initial investigation revealed that he was quite aggressive in his behaviour and was also under depression,” he said, as police shared his pictures of the accused.
Terror group People’s Anti-Fascist Front claims responsibility for J&K’s DG (Prisons)’s murder
Terror group People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF) has reportedly claimed responsibility for Hemant Lohia’s murder. It claimed that its “special squad” carried out the “intelligence-based operation” to target the high-value target.
“This is just the beginning of such high-profile operations just to warn this Hindutva regime and its collaborators that we can strike anytime and anywhere with precision. This is a small gift to their visiting home minister amid such a security grid. God willing we will continue such operations in the future,” the PAFF reportedly said in a statement.
ADGP Singh, however, said no terror link has come to the fore as per the initial investigation.
The development comes at a time when Union Home Minister Amit Shah is on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir.
Bureau Report
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