Bhat, the witnesses said, was accompanied by two local men, Ishfaq Ahmad Thokar and Ghias-ul-Islam Thokar. Bhat, along with his friends Sartaj Ahmad and Altaf Lone, was charged with having pushed Ahmad out of a moving vehicle. “We are continuing to question people to determine how the killers came to know Lieutenant Fayaz would be attending the wedding”, an official familiar with the investigation said. The Hizb operative is also suspected, police sources said, of the April 17 murder of Imtiyaz Ahmad Khan, one of three lawyers involved in prosecuting the 2011 murder of the Shopian murder. “It’s likely he knew of Lieutenant Fayaz for many years”, an officer familiar with the case said.

Source: Indian Express May 11, 2017 22:52 UTC