Srinagar

Within a week of the heinous crime, Jammu and Kashmir police have killed the assassin of Virender Paswan, a street hawker who had come from Bhagalpur in Bihar to Srinagar to make a living.

Police claimed Mukhtar Shah was one of the three terrorists killed in last night’s encounter in Shopian, south Kashmir. He had fired at Paswan from close range in Lal Bazar in the evening of October 5, as the latter was selling golgappa to make a living

The killed terrorists belong to the Resistance Front, a front for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba. Shah belongs to Ganderbal, in central Kashmir.

He had shifted to the south after killing Paswan, police said.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has paid rs 6.5 lakh compensation to the family of Paswan. However, his wife Putli Devi said she would have liked to get her husband’s body cremated in her native place.

It may be recalled that Paswan’s son had come to Kashmir and performed his father’s last rights in Srinagar amidst the claims by government that the family couldn’t afford to fly the body home.

With his killing, the police and security agencies have the responsibility of hunting the killers of businessman M L Bindroo, and two teachers Supinder Kour and Deepak Chand by terrorists in the recent attacks.

The killer of a taxi driver, Shafi Lone was killed on Monday in Ganderbal.

The government of J&K has also set up a distress phone line for the Minority community members. This move is apparently aimed at instilling confidence among the Hindus and Sikhs who were feeling vulnerable after the recent targeted killings of their members.