SRINAGAR: After over three decades, police will be re-investigating the murder case of Neelkanth Ganjoo, a retired session judge, who was shot dead by militants in Srinagar on November 4, 1989. As a session and district court judge, Ganjoo had awarded the death sentence to the then JKLF founder Mohammad Maqbool Bhat in 1968.
The government may also order reinvestigation of some other high-profile murder cases in Jammu and Kashmir. J&K police State Investigation Agency (SIA) has appealed to all persons familiar with facts or circumstances of the murder of Ganjoo to come forward and share any account of events that has a direct or indirect bearing on the investigation of the instant case.
“Identity of all such persons shall be kept completely hidden and protected besides all useful and relevant information shall be suitably rewarded,” a police official said. The SIA has asked the public to contact on 8899004976 or on email at sspsia-kmr@jkpolice.gov.in for any information related to the murder case, which took place about 34 years back.
Ganjoo was shot dead by JKLF militants in Hari Singh High Street market in uptown Srinagar on November 4, 1989, after the eruption of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. He was killed after his retirement by the militants. As a session and district court judge, Ganjoo had awarded the death sentence to JKLF founder Mohammad Maqbool Bhat in August 1968 in a case related to the murder of police officer Amar Chand.
Justice Ganjoo’s death sentence to Maqbool Bhat was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1982 and Bhat was hanged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail on February 11, 1984. Sources said the government may also order a re-investigation in some other high-profile murder cases that took place during militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.
Many top personalities including clerics Mirwaiz Farooq and Qazi Nisar, Director Doordarshan Kendra Srinagar Lassa Koul, Gujjar leader Maulana Masoodi and then BJP vice president J&K Tika Lal Taploo were killed by militants in Valley after the eruption of militancy. Earlier, in May this year, police arrested two accused involved in the assassination of the cleric Mirwaiz Farooq. Mirwaiz was shot dead by militants inside his residence in 1990.