Four members of a family arrested for ‘murdering’ Sopore goldsmith and looting his shop

Sopore: Jammu and Kashmir Police on Monday claimed to have solved the murder case of missing goldsmith in Sopore town of North Kashmir’s Baramulla district by arresting four persons.
Addressing reporters, SSP Sopore Dr Harmeet Singh Metha said the arrested persons have confessed to killing the goldsmith “with a sole aim of looting jewelry and cash from his shop.”
Giving details, he said that the accused forcibly lifted Tariq Ahmed Malik (32), son of Ghulam Rasool of Kalaroos Kupwara, in his car soon around 7:30 pm after he closed his shop at Chotta Bazar Sopore on Dec 26.
“The accused strangulated him and took away keys of his shop and looted gold and cash,” he said.
Singh said that the accused threw the body of the goldsmith in a river after committing the crime.
“We are making all efforts to retrieve the body from the river,” he said.
Pertinently, the goldsmith Tariq Ahmed had gone missing on Dec 26 and since then Sopore traders and family members were continuously protesting demanding whereabouts of him.
The police revelation sent shock waves among family members and traders who demanded capital punishment for the killers. “It is a cold blooded murder. These criminals should be hanged in broad day light. Such criminals are nuisance for the society as Kashmir is a place where such crimes don’t take place,” said Haji Abdul Rehman Zargar, the man who brought up the orphan victim.
Meanwhile, the four accused have been identified as two brothers Sajad Lara and Adil Lara sons of Afzal Lara resident of Muslimpeer Sopore, Ghulam Muhammad Lara and his son Nayeem Lara.