Former NC legislator arrested on kidnapping charges

Kathua SSP J P Singh confirmed the report but refused to divulge any details saying that the matter was being investigated.

On November 16, 2006, a police party from Gandoh had found the body of contractor Ghulam Mohammad Rather from the riverside at Goelbar village in Bhalesa tehsil. More than three months later, the case took a dramatic turn when local girl Juna Bano appeared at the police station and claimed that she had witnessed Rather’s murder. She named some policemen and Mohammad.

Police registered a murder case and arrested the cops she had named.

Five days later, a police party from Gandoh arrested Mohammad from a house in Jammu. SHO of Gandoh police station Farooq Wani said Mohammad was brought to Jammu from Kathua by a former NC legislator who happened to be the nephew of the deceased.

As some Opposition leaders in Doda district tried to give the case a political hue, the state Government transferred the case to the Crime Branch. The accused were sent to the Joint Interrogation Centre in Jammu twice. However, both times, they were proved to be innocent.

In the meantime, after his release, Mohammad returned to Kathua and narrated the episode to his family members and the police. He accused the former National Conference MLC of abducting him from his brother’s house.