Son of slain Kashmiri pandit moves HC for CBI probe into cases against ex-JKLF leader

A Kashmiri pandit, whose father was killed by terrorists in 1997, on Saturday moved the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, seeking a CBI probe into a slew of terror cases against outlawed terror outfit JKLF' former leader Farooq Ahmed Dar alias "Bitta Karate".

Karate, who was arrested last year by the National Investigation Agency in a terror funding case, had earlier been in jail for nearly 16 years between November 1990 and 2006 on various charges ranging from murders to other heinous acts terrorism.

He was was granted bail by a TADA court in 2006 on ground of inordinate delay in framing of charges against him.

After his release, Karate had parted ways with Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front led by Mohammad Yasin Malik and is now part of another faction of the JKLF.

The plea against Karate to the high court was made by Vikas Raina, a migrant Kashmiri pandit, whose father Ashok Raina, the principal of a higher secondary school, was killed by Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists in Gool in 1997 along with two other teachers of the school.

In his petition, filed through advocate Utsav Singh Bains, Raina has annexed a list FIRs pertaining to a series of heinous cases of murder and other acts of terrorism, pending against Karate.

Seeking a fresh investigation by the CBI into cases against Karate, Raina has also annexed a video footage with his petition in which Karate is purportedly seen confessing to having killed 20 kashmiri pandits on camera, a court official said.

He said Raina's petition is likely to come up for hearing by the high court on March 11.

Seeking the transfer of cases against Karate to the CBI and their trial to Jammu, Raina also referred to his release by TADA court, saying that "the apathy of the government and the police has led to a travesty of justice in which a dreaded terrorist like Karate has walked out after murdering scores of Kashmiri Pandits".

"This is not only haunting the migrant Kashmiri pandits but also shakes the confidence of law-abiding citizens of this country in the criminal justice system," the petition said.