Breakthrough achieved in Kashmir shrine fire

‘Sectarian angle’ ruled out but Police seeking permission for narco-analysis of the key accused

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
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SRINAGAR, May 30: Within 24 hours, Police are understood to have achieved breakthrough in Friday’s mysterious fire in the shrine of Ayatullah Aga Syed Mehdi Al-Moosavi, a 20th century Shia spiritual leader and a prominent preacher of Islam who established his seat in Kashmir’s Budgam town.

Unidentified miscreants, according to the residents and the Police sources, had carried an LPG cylinder and oven to the shrine situated on a hillock in Budgam after breaking into two shops in close vicinity of Budgam Police Station. Some people, including Aga Syed Mohammad Fazalullah, the head of a faction of Anjuman-e-Sharayee Shia’an, who were offering Fatihah to their relatives and forefathers buried in a nearby graveyard, spotted flames and smoke billowing out of the shrine early on Friday morning.

The fire was brought under control before senior Police and civil administration officers, including DIG Central Kashmir Ghulam Hassan Bhat, SSP Budgam Fayaz Ahmad Lone and Deputy Commissioner Mir Altaf Ahmad, reached the spot. President Anjuman-e-Sharayee and senior Hurriyat leader Aga Syed Hassan expressed concern over the incident and demanded a thorough investigation. He implored the public to maintain harmony and let the Police carry out its investigation even as the district headquarters observed complete shutdown on Friday and a protest march was taken to DC's office.

Budgam Police Station, seized the LPG cylinder, registered FIR and started the investigation under continuous supervision of DIG Mr Bhat. Police apprehended three local suspects. Of them, two youths, identified as Saquib and Samir, both residents of Budgam town, according to the Police sources, admitted to have carried out the mischief.

SSP Budgam Fayaz Ahmad Lone refused to share details. He said it could hamper the investigation. He, however, confirmed that the Police had achieved breakthrough.

“We are investigating all possible theories. Yes, it is a fact that we have written to senior officers and we are seeking permission for narco-analysis of the two accused from a court of law”, Mr Lone told State Times . “As of now, we do not find any attempt of creating sectarian disturbance. But, we are still busy with the investigation”, he said.

Sources privy to the investigation said that the key accused Saquib maintained during two days of sustained interrogation that he had set the shrine on fire as he was “burning in rage over the bad things happening inside it”. However, his resistance to the investigators’ attempt of opening the data of his mobile phone led the Police to suspect "some other hand”.

“Before we took him into custody, he had locked his cellphone. He did not cooperate with us and did not disclose the password when we made sustained efforts to analyse his phone’s data. Now, we are seeking call detail record of his phone from the company and assistance from technical experts to check its data”, said an official. “It will help us track the people who have been in touch with this man”, he said. Police believe that burglary and stealing away cash from an iron safe could have been the motive of the miscreants but other theories are also being pursued. Police are also looking for a gas-cutter which could have been used to break the iron-safe.

The shrine is situated outside the battalion headquarters of Rashtriya Rifles 53 Bn and a defunct memorial of the Battle of Budgam of 1947. The shrine is also the mausoleum of Ayatullah Mehdi’s successors Aga Syed Yousuf Al-Moosavi and Aga Syed Mustafa Al-Moosavi.

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