Jammu, Mar 08: A 32-year-old Kashmiri man, who was injured in a grenade attack at a bus stand here, succumbed to injuries Friday, raising the death toll to two, officials said.
Mohammad Riyaz, a resident of Anantnag district’s Mattan village, died while undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital here in the early hours, the officials said.
A teenager, Mohammad Sharik, from Uttarakhand was killed and 32 others injured when a powerful blast rocked the crowded general bus stand around Thursday afternoon.
Within hours of the incident, police arrested the accused and said he was tasked by Hizbul Mujahideen outfit to carry out the attack.
Inspector General of Police, Jammu, M K Sinha had said Yasir Javed Bhat, a resident of Khanpora-Dassein village in Kulgam, was tasked by Hizb district commander, Kulgam, Farooq Ahmad Bhat alias “Umar” to carry out the attack.
Bhat, who had reached Jammu along with the grenade Thursday morning after he left Kulgam the previous night, was fleeing after the attack when he was arrested by policemen at Nagrota in the outskirts of the city, he had said.
Meanwhile, a boy who allegedly lobbed a grenade at the Jammu bus stand, killing two men, is under 16 years of age and he told interrogators that he was paid Rs 50,000 by a Hizbul Mujahideen militant for it, officials said Friday.
The boy, who will turn 16 on March 12, was apprehended while fleeing after hurling the grenade at the bus stand that left two people dead and 31 others injured Thursday.
During interrogation, the juvenile told the police that he had been paid Rs 50,000 by a Hizbul Mujahideen militant for throwing the grenade, the officials said.
The officials said his Aadhaar card and other identity proofs, including school records, show his date of birth as March 12, 2003.
The interrogators will now conduct an age test on the boy before initiating legal proceedings against him, they said.
According to the investigators, “self-styled district chief of Kulgam’s Hizbul Mujahideen outfit Fayaz had passed on a grenade to an overground worker, Muzammil, for lobbing at a crowded place anywhere in Jammu.
“Muzammil had developed cold feet and refused to throw it. He was then instructed to pass on the grenade to the boy who was codenamed ‘chotu’.
“The picture of juvenile was shown to Muzammil, who is at present in police custody, and he identified him as the person who had received the grenade,” the officials said.
The boy is the eldest among the three children. He was studying in class ninth and his father is a painter by profession.
As per the law, he will be sent to a juvenile home and the state government might file a petition before an appropriate court asking for his trial under stringent anti-terror law provisions.
