Supplementary chargesheet against former HC Bar Association president
The State Investigation Agency (SIA) in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday filed a supplementary chargesheet against Mian Abdul Qayoom, a former president of the J&K High Court Bar Association, who was arrested in connection with the murder of advocate Babar Qadri. He was gunned down by militants in Srinagar in 2020.
A police spokesperson said the SIA, Kashmir, filed a supplementary chargesheet before the third Additional Sessions Judge, Jammu.
The police had registered a case at the Lalbazar police station, and investigation was taken up by Hazratbal SP-led special investigation team.
On the basis of evidence, Mian Qayoom was nabbed on June 25 as the principal conspirator behind the killing. He has been lodged in the District Jail Amphalla, Jammu, the police said.
They further stated, “It was revealed during the in-depth investigation by the SIT of the SIA that Qayoom, who had an inimical relation with the deceased, got Qadri eliminated through terrorists of the TRF (The Resistance Front) and their handlers in Pakistan by hatching a criminal conspiracy.”
TRF is a proxy outfit for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) formed in the aftermath of August 5, 2019. The police said Qayoom had a history of being a “terrorist sympathiser and die-hard secessionist”.
“Several cases have already been registered against him for his anti-national activities. He had earned notoriety for treating the High Court Bar Association in Kashmir as his fiefdom and virtually converting it into a constituent of all-party Hurriyat Conference,” a police spokesperson said.
The police’s statement added that the SIA’s SIT today presented a 340-page supplementary chargesheet against Qayoom for various offences. Further investigation in the case U/S 173 (8) shall continue, the police said.
According to the police, the initial chargesheet in the case was filed before the Special NIA Court, Srinagar. “In December 2023, the High Court had transferred the trial to Jammu, taking a serious view of the interference in judicial process by Qayoom as well as threat/intimidation to the deceased’s family,” the police said.
