Jammu and Kashmir Additional Director of Police Mukesh Singh on Wednesday said that no terror angle has emerged during the investigation of the case related to the gruesome murder of Director General of Prisons Hemant Kumar Lohia.
“No terror angle has emerged during the investigation of the case of the murder of H K Lohia. Interrogation of the accused is in progress. His disclosures are being corroborated with field investigation,” the ADGP said in a brief statement.
Interestingly a terror group, People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), claimed responsibility for the murder just hours after it was committed on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday.
DG Lohia was found dead under suspicious circumstances in a friend’s house in the Udaywala area of Jammu. The police had arrested the suspected accused, 23-year-old Yasir Ahmed, who worked as domestic help, from a field in Kanhachak on Tuesday following a major manhunt.
Police say that Ahmed had been working at the house for nearly six months. He was also reported as “quite aggressive” and “under depression” as per some documentary evidence that was seized by the police reflecting Ahmed’s mental state.
Meanwhile, Lohia was cremated with full state honours in Jammu on Wednesday, two days after he was murdered by his domestic help in Jammu.
The body of the slain officer was handed over to his family in the morning for last rites after the completion of legal and medical formalities.
Later, a coffin carrying the mortal remains of the officer, wrapped in the Tricolour, was taken to police lines in Jammu, where a wreath-laying ceremony was held to pay homage to him.
Senior police officers, his batchmates, including the additional director general of police (ADGP), Special Task Force, Punjab Harpreet Singh Sidhu, and civil officers offered floral tributes to the departed officer. Hundreds of people also joined them in paying their last respects.
Lohia’s family members, including his wife Madhu, daughter and son, were present at the wreath-laying ceremony, which witnessed emotional scenes as many of his relatives broke down.
Lohia’s wife controlled her emotions and was heard telling the ADGP headquarters MK Sinha that she “will not cry”.
“It is a very unfortunate incident as we have lost a dynamic and courageous officer. His departure is a big loss for the J&K police and the nation as a whole. The void left by him is impossible to be fulfilled,” Sidhu told reporters.
After the wreath-laying ceremony, the mortal remains of the officer were taken to the Jogi Gate crematorium. The body was consigned to the flames amid a gun salute.