Ex-president of J&K High Court Bar Association held for alleged murder conspiracy of Advocate in 2020

Srinagar, Jun 25 (PTI) Former president of the Kashmir Bar Association Mian Qayoom was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the murder of an advocate in 2020, officials said.

Babar Qadri, who was also a TV news channel panellist, was shot dead at his residence in the city’s Hawal area in September 2020.

“Former Kashmir Bar Association president advocate Mian Qayoom has been arrested in connection with Qadri’s killing,” an official said here.

“During the investigation of the case, it came to the fore that Qayoom was the main conspirator in the case and was behind Qadri’s killing,” he added.

He is being questioned and further investigations in the case are going on, the officials added.

Qayoom is the father-in-law of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court judge Javed Iqbal Wani.

Police had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe Qadri’s murder. The case was later handed over to the Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA).

In August 2022, police carried out searches at the residences of Qayoom and two other lawyers in Srinagar.

Digital devices, bank statements and other documents were seized from them as part of the probe.

In September last year, the SIA announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh for information about Qadri’s killers.

Qadri was a vocal critic of the bar association leadership, particularly of Qayoom, and had claimed a threat to his life three days before he was killed.

Police had also said Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Saqib Manzoor, who was killed in an encounter in August 2021, was responsible for Qadri’s murder.