Srinagar, July 26: Refuting the police theory of ‘suicide’ and ‘drug addict’ against Farooq Ahmad Bhat of Batamaloo whose body was fished out from a rivulet at Kanikadal on Sunday, family and neighbourhood of SD Colony today said that police version was a blatant lie to hide the actual culprits of the murder.
The police had also stated that Farooq was ‘mentally disturbed’ and might have committed ‘suicide’. Farooq, who owned a shop ‘Cute Way’ in Central Market Abi Guzar here, had left his home for morning prayers around 4 am on July 20, only to return dead.
“Farooq was to get married in September. It was he who was handling the renovation of the house besides other preparations,” said his father Ghulam Mohiuddin in a broken voice.
The family and locals question the police version saying, “Everyone knows him here, the business community of Lal Chowk as well as Delhi from where he used to bring stocks. He did not even smoke, leave aside taking drugs. How can anyone give his daughter in marriage to a drug addict or mentally challenged person? Police is hiding its face to save itself from public wrath. It were policemen who were doing rounds in the area that night.”
“If he has done suicide what about the blood oozing out of his nose? The marks on his wrists, ankles and an injury mark on the rear side of his head? One of his eyes was swollen which clearly showed the torture he had gone through,” the locals explained, adding, “We fail to understand why curfew was clamped in the area when it was a suicide case. He was not a stone thrower nor did he take part in any protest.”
The family had planned to bury him in their ancestral graveyard but it were the locals who told the family that he was a martyr and buried him in the Martyrs’ Graveyard Dandarkhah.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST