Jammu: A 41-year-old hotelier was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Kishtwar town on Friday evening against which the town is observing shut down today.
Identifying the deceased as Ishtiaq Ahmed Dar, Kishtwar Deputy Commissioner Angrez Singh said that he was shot in the head.
Police are investigating the matter and a Special Investigation Team has also been constituted for the same.
Meanwhile, sources said that deceased was shot in the head from a 9 mm pistol, a prohibited bore for civilians. The police have recovered an empty and a live 9 mm cartridge from the spot.
The deceased was the owner of Hotel Dar and he also owned huge property in the town. He was passing through a deserted lane on the backside of Jamia Masjid on a motorcycle when someone shot him in his head at 7.54 pm. There was power cut in the area at the time.
Pointing out that though everybody in the area heard the gun shot, but as there was azaan from the Jamia Masjid immediately thereafter, they took it bursting of a cracker.
Some people who rushed to the mosque after hearing the Azaan saw the deceased lying in the lane, but assumed it to be a drunk lying on the ground.
When someone went to look at the person that they immediately recognized Dar and informed the police around 8.10 pm. Senior police officers including Kishtwar Senior Superintendent of Police Abrar Choudhary reached there and rushed the body to hospital.
It has been after nearly two decades that such a shootout has taken place in the town. SSP Kishtwar constituted a Special Investigation Team led by DySP Operation for investigation in the killing.
He has also called forensic experts from Jammu for assisting the investigations.
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