Shujaat Bukhari was shot by unidentified gunmen at the Press Colony in Srinagar on Thursday.
Highlights
- Shujaat Bukari was shot dead outside his office in Srinagar yesterday
- Police said he was killed by three men on bike, released photos
- On Friday they released another photo of man at the scene
The fourth suspect in the killing of senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari in Srinagar has been arrested, just a short while after his photo was released by the Jammu and Kashmir police.
Zubair Qayoom, wearing a white
kurta and sporting a beard, can be seen in the photo checking on the bodies in the car, not long after Mr Bukhari was shot dead. As someone pulls out one of the bodies from the car, the suspect is seen picking up a pistol and leaving. The gun has been recovered from him.
"The pistol has since been recovered and he is being questioned about his presence at the scene of the crime. So far, he has not been able to give any convincing answers," SP Pani, Inspector General Kashmir, said.
The police have also formed a Special Investigation Team or SIT to probe the murder.
The Editor-in-Chief of "Rising Kashmir" was killed when he had just left his office in Press Enclave and was heading to an Iftar party. The police suspect the killers were working for the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Shujaat Bukhari was a widely respected journalist from Jammu and Kashmir.
"This was a planned attack," said Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta. "The attack would not be possible without local support," he told NDTV.
Last night, the police released security footage of the terrorists on a bike. The faces of the rider and the third man are hidden by a helmet and a mask. The man in the middle is seen holding what seems to be a sack of weapons. His face is shielded from the cameras by the third man.
A CCTV grab of the three suspects on a motorcycle released earlier by the Jammu and Kashmir police
Mr Bukhari, 52, was given police protection after an attempt on his life 18 years ago. The father of two, who was often part of "track-2" diplomacy between India and Pakistan, was also said to be on a terrorist hit list.
In 2006, Mr Bukhari was kidnapped by unknown gunmen who then attempted to shoot him at close range. Miraculously, the gunman's pistol got locked and the journalist ran for his life.
In recent weeks, he had strongly backed the internal ceasefire announced by New Delhi for Ramzan.
Just days ago, he tweeted on the killings of two policemen in Pulwama in south Kashmir.
"It is heart wrenching to see these policemen getting killed during Shab e Qadr. May the families have courage to bear the loss. At the end two more Kashmiris lose lives. Violence must stop to create a space for dialogue," he posted.
The police have put out a public appeal for help to identify the killers from the CCTV images. The informant's identity would be confidential, they assured.
Hundreds of mourners in Kashmir joined the funeral procession of Mr Bukhari at his ancestral village Kreeri in Baramulla. Despite heavy rain, crowds of villagers, friends and colleagues followed the procession through the streets of the village.