Qayoom Khan
Srinagar, March 19 : The magisterial inquiry into the “custodial death” of a 28-year old private school Principal is going to end up as a farce like numerous other such probes ordered by authorities over the past decades, the victim’s family said on Tuesday.
Rizwan Asad Pandit (29), a resident of Awantipora area of Pulwama district, was killed during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday after he was picked up by police from his home two days ago, his brother told reporters.
Pandit, was Principal at a private school namely Sabir Abdullah Jobwarara Awantipora.
“They laid a cordon during the night and whisked him away and told us not to mention anything about the arrest to anyone. When we asked the concerned police station about his whereabouts next day, they said the matter was out of their hands as he had been shifted to Cargo,” he said.
“We came to know this morning that they had killed him in custody,” he said.
“We know the fate of investigations ordered over all these years into killings. We know nothing is going to come out of this investigation as well,” he said.
The civil administration ordered a magisterial inquiry under Section 176 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to ascertain the cause and circumstances leading to Pandit’s death.
Meanwhile, a police spokesman said Rizwan was picked up in connection with a “terror case” and had died in police custody.
“In pursuance of terror case investigation, one suspect Rizwan Pandit resident of Awantipora was in police custody. The said person died in police custody. In this matter while following the procedure laid down in section 176 of CrPC a magisterial inquiry is underway. Separately, police investigation has also been initiated in the jurisdictional area of incident,” the spokesman said. (GNS)
