SRINAGAR: The brother of an IPS officer, who was missing for the past two months, has formally joined militant group Hizbul Mujahideen and released his picture on social media.
A picture of Shamsul Haq Mengnoo, 25, holding an AK-47 rifle went viral on social media on Sunday.
The picture reveals that Shamsul joined Hizb on May 22, the day he went missing. He has been given the code name Burhan Sani.
Shamsul was pursuing a Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery degree in a government college at Zakura, on the outskirts of Srinagar, when he went missing in May this year.
His elder brother Inamul Haq is a 2012 batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre IPS officer now posted as commandant, battalion Mandakata, North Guwahati.
A police officer said they were ascertaining the veracity of reports of Shamsul joining Hizb.
"We are verifying the authenticity of the picture," he said.
Shamsul is the fourth highly educated youth to pick up gun in Kashmir this year.
In January this year, a 26-year-old PhD scholar Manan Bashir Wani of Kupwara left Aligarh Muslim University to join Hizb.
In March Junaid Ahmad Kh son of senior separatist leader Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai joined militancy. Khan had done Masters in Business Administration from Kashmir University.
Hizb has released pictures of about a dozen new recruits on Burhan's anniversary today.
Meanwhile, picture a youth Abid Hussain Bhat hailing from Sazan village in Doda in Jammu region has also reportedly joined militancy.
The picture of Abidg an AK-47 rifle has gone viral on social media. The picture reveals that he has joined Lashkar on July 1 this year.
Bhat, 25, had gone missing on June 30.
A police official said they are investigating whether Bhat has joined militant ranks. Earlier, a father of five children joined Hizbul in Kishtwar district of Jammu province. According to police sources over 100 youth have joined militancy in Kashmir this year.