Srinagar, Jun 23: A police official was beaten to death by an irate mob at Srinagar Jamia Majid (grand Mosque) after they assumed he had fired at a group of people who caught him clicking pictures near a mosque in downtown area of Srinagar, injuring three.
The people were busy with special Shab-e-Qadr prayers inside grand mosque at the times of incident around 2am on Thursday-Friday night.
Eyewitnesses said that a group of youth caught hold of the police official and beat him to death outside Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta. In the melee, three persons were injured due to firing which took place in the shuffle.
The body was taken to police control room for identification and other legal procedures, the sources said, adding the situation in old city has turned tense following the incident. The deceased was identified as DySP Mohammed Ayub Pandith.
Eyewitnesses said, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was present inside the mosque at the time of the incident. However, police recovered the dead body and rushed it to the SMHS hospital. Besides, three injured persons were shifted to the hospital for treatment, the reports said.
Soon after the incident, intense clashes erupted between police and the youth outside the mosque, the reports said. Police reinforcement were rushed in to restore normalcy in the area.
Muslims across Kashmir were observing Shab-e-Qadr (the night of power) with night-long prayers and supplications were being made inside the mosques and shrines of the valley.
The authorities announced restrictions on movement of people in seven police station areas of the city as a precautionary measure.
The restrictions, which came into force at dawn, were announced to maintain law and order as separatists had called for protests after Friday prayers against killing of a civilian during protests in Kakapora area of Pulwama district on Wednesday.
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