Thief disguised as soldier stages search operation in Kashmir’s Kulgam village, ‘stabs’ man to death

In a rare crime, a thief masquerading as a security personnel — wearing a black uniform, carrying a pistol and sporting a walkie talkie — barged into a house under the garb of a search operation and stabbed a man to death in south Kashmir’s Kulgam in the early hours of Friday. He was then apprehended and handed over to the police.

Eyewitnesses said the accused, Naseer Ahmad Sheikh from Qazigund, in a military commando dress, stabbed Zahid Ahmad Banday, 25, after the latter suspected his credentials and entered into a scuffle and chased him. The victim was set to get married in a month or so, locals said.

The incident took place around 1:30 a.m. “Wearing an Army uniform, Sheikh entered into the house of Bandays. He directed the inmates to hand over their mobile phones. They were assembled outside the house. Thereafter, he directed the victim to switch off the lights and hand over the keys of the tin trunk box. My cousin questioned the motives of the accused and suspected him to be a thief rather than a soldier,” Suhail Ahmad Banday, the victim’s cousin, said.

He said the police must investigate the case and “ensure justice”.

Locals suspected that the accused could be a part of a gang acting as security personnel and staging fake search operations. Bashir Ahmad Bhat, a neighbour of the Bandays, said the thief first searched the house of Showkat Ahmad Sheikh, another local. “The accused asked Sheikh to accompany him to the house of the Bandays and inform them about the search operation. The accused also searched for CCTV, apparently to cut the wires. On being caught, the thief jumped from the second floor and suffered injuries. He was overpowered by locals and handed over to the police,” Mr. Bhat said.

He said the victim was lying in a pool of blood when neighbours reached the spot and shifted him to the hospital. “Zahid was getting married soon. His father was making preparations for his wedding. It’s a heart-wrenching incident,” Mr. Bhat said.

The J&K police have launched an investigation into the case. However, they have not issued any statement on the sequence of events leading to the murder.