Hours after 10-day-old Irfan died in north Kashmirs Baramulla district during a stone-pelting incident on February 22,the J&K police had arrested all the four prime accused. The police,however,did not make the arrests public so that they can track others involved. The arrests were announced in the Assembly by the state Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar on Monday. The police got the breakthrough from an eyewitness travelling in the passenger vehicle which was attacked by the mob on the outskirts of Baramulla. The eyewitness,whose name the police have withheld,helped zero in on the prime accused. Soon after the death of the baby,the police had constituted a Special Investigation Team headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police Sheikh Faisal Qayoom to probe the case. On February 22,a group of men in two vehicles,enforcing a strike,intercepted a passenger vehicle at Janbzpora and attacked it. It is believed that the mob was also looking for a policeman travelling in the vehicle. The passengers panicked and jumped out. One Kulsooma,who was holding her ten-day-old son Irfan,was allegedly pushed by the mob. The baby fell from her lap and died later in the hospital,the eyewitness told the police. All the accused were from Baramulla. We were lucky that an eyewitness who was travelling in the same passenger vehicle identified one of the prime accused as hailing from the town. During the same night we picked up the prime accused,an ex-militant Tanveer Sale,26, said a police officer,who did not want to be named. During questioning,he revealed the entire episode and the name of other accused. The other three were later arrested, said the officer. The other three were identified as Akther Hussain Bhat,22,Bilal Ahmed Chana,30 and Mohammad Ramzan Sofi,30. All the four accused are running business in the Baramulla town, Deputy Inspector General of Police,North Kashmir,Abdul Qayoom Manhas told The Indian Express. There is no specific motivation for these four for attacking the passenger vehicle. We have also seized the two Sumos that were used by the mob for attacking the passenger vehicle. The police are also looking for other people who were part of the mob that attacked the passenger vehicle.
