Of officers whose hard work won conviction for accused

Braving all odds and pressures, three officers, Ahfad-ul-Mujtaba, Ramesh Kumar Jalla and Naveed Peerzada, worked hard to piece together evidence against the accused in the horrific rape and murder of Kathua minor girl, which resulted in their conviction on Monday.

When six of the seven accused were convicted by the Districtand Sessions Court Pathankot this morning, social media was flooded withpraises for the officers of the Crime Branch, who investigated the case.

   

“Relieved about Kathua verdict. Credit goes to Crime Branchteam led by IG Mujtaba, SSP Jalla, additional SP Naveed and DSP Shetambari,Deepika S Rajawat and Talib for ensuring facts come to light despitehindrances,” former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted.

AHFAD-UL- MUJTABA

58-year-old Ahfad-ul-Mujtaba took over as head of the CBwhen it was investigating the case.

“I am satisfied with conviction of the accused but not withtheir quantum of the sentence,” Mujataba told Greater Kashmir. Considered asexpert in cracking blind cases, Mujataba and his team worked hard to collectevidences against the accused. 

“The only problem was collection of evidences as they weredestroyed by the accused. But we succeeded in building watertight case againstthe accused,” he said.

During his career, Mujtaba has served at key positionsincluding the SSP Srinagar and the DIG central Kashmir

RAMESH KUMAR JALLA

60-year-old Ramesh Kumar Jalla was supervising the CrimeBranch team that probed the case.

“When I visited the cowshed of Sanjhi Ram, I supposed thatthe crime wouldn’t have been committed inside it because it was located in apopulated area. Had they kept her (the victim) confined in the cowshed, itwould have been noticed,” he said.

Initially, the district police Kathua had claimed that thevictim girl was kept captive in the cowshed.

However, the probe carried out by the CB revealed that thegirl was kept captive in Devishtan before being murdered by the accused.

During investigation, Jalla, who attained superannuation inApril this year, would often sit with his team and discuss how to connect themissing links of the case. 

“It was not a difficult case. The only problem wascollection of evidence,” he says.

Jalla comes from a family of policemen. His father, late D NJalla, also a police officer, died in a road accident near Sangam whileescorting cavalcade of Arun Nehru, former Union minister.

In the past three decades, Jalla has served in almost allthe parts of Valley—old city Srinagar, Baramulla, Budgam, Anantnag.

NAVEED PEERZADA

It was a painstaking probe by young police officer NaveedPeerzada that brought out startling facts that had escaped the investigationcarried out by Kathua police.

Peerzada was head of the Special Investigation Team, whichprobed the case.

From conducting raids to arresting of the accused tocollecting of the evidences, Naveed was leading the Crime Branch team in Rasanaand adjoining villages of Hira Nagar Kathua, during the two-month longinvestigation.

Naveed, who is presently on deputation with United Nations,is a 2004-batch KPS officer.

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