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Journalism of Courage
Five weeks after The Indian Express first reported the Srinagar sex abuse scandal allegedly involving top J&K politicians, police and security force officers, the CBI today arrested Deputy Superintendent of Police Mohammad Ashraf after a 15-year-old victim recognised him during an identification parade.
He’s the first government officer to be arrested in the scandal. The J&K High Court, hearing a PIL, had taken the CBI to task for going slow with the probe and sought personal appearance of the CBI director to “hear from him the proposed course of future investigation”.
Police sources said more than 30 persons, named by the victim and the alleged kingpin Sabina, have been paraded so far and around a dozen identified.
Several police officers and others were paraded today at the CBI office at Humhama. Dy SP Ashraf was identified and arrested subsequently. “He (Ashraf) surfaced only after a notice, directing him to cooperate with the agency, was pasted outside his house,” said a senior police officer.
Sources said an SSP-rank officer and a Dy SP, also paraded today, were not identified by the girl. The next hearing of the case in the High Court has been listed for June 6.
