By News Desk
Srinagar: Former Kashmir Bar Association president Mian Qayoom was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the 2020 murder of advocate Babar Qadri, officials said.
Qadri, also a TV news channel panellist, was shot dead at his home in the Hawal area of Srinagar in September 2020.
“Former Kashmir Bar Association president Mian Qayoom has been arrested for Qadri’s killing,” an official told PTI.
Investigations revealed that Qayoom was the main conspirator behind Qadri’s murder. He is currently being questioned, and further investigations are ongoing, the report said quoting officials further.
Qayoom is the father-in-law of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court judge Javed Iqbal Wani.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was initially formed to probe Qadri’s murder, which was later handed over to the Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA).
In August 2022, police searched the residences of Qayoom and two other lawyers in Srinagar, seizing digital devices, bank statements, and other documents.
Last September, the SIA offered a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh for information about Qadri’s killers.
Qadri, a vocal critic of the bar association leadership and Qayoom, had claimed a threat to his life three days before he was killed. Police had also identified Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Saqib Manzoor, killed in a military operation in August 2021, as responsible for Qadri’s murder.
This story was originally published in freepresskashmir.news.
