Umran Hussain
Soon after brutally murdering an elderly woman in Srinagar, Omprakash, a notorious killer from Uttarakhand tried to escape from Kashmir which he almost did by boarding a passenger vehicle travelling to Jammu from Srinagar.
Owais Khan, the driver of the vehicle turned out to be Sherlock Holmes when he asked his friend to click a photograph of the man was boarded his vehicle in such a hurry that Owais sensed, something was horribly wrong with the man.
On his way to Jammu, Owais says, he received a call from Lalbazar Police station, the area where the murder actually took place.
“The Station House Officer called me after I had crossed the Nashri tunnel and informed me about the incident and said that the murderer was in my vehicle.” Said Owais while talking to a local news channel.
“I was asked by the police to turn back to Srinagar but I did otherwise. I thought, how can I trust a murderer, if I turn back, he will know the plan. What if he hurts any passenger in the vehicle. I decided to move on.” Said Owais.
“I told the caller from the police station that I will hand him over to the police station that comes on my way. I couldn’t find the police station in Udhampur, I moved on and handed him over to the police in the police station Tikri.” Said Owais.
Owais kept his cool even in such a challenging situation when he was driving a vehicle and he knew that a murderer was travelling with him. Owais says that he didn’t share any details of the calls he received from police station even to the passengers travelling with him.
It is pertinent to mention that on Thursday an elderly woman was killed by her non-local servant in Lal Bazar area of Srinagar. The non-local Omrakash involved in her killing had also decamped with some cash and jewelry from the house.
In a statement, police spokesperson said on December 16, “police station Lal Bazar received information wherein an elderly lady Mala Begum widow of Ghulam Ahmed Sheikh was murdered brutally by some unknown person, leaving her in a pool of blood at her residence BehrarBhagwanpora.”
“While digging deep, it surfaced that the family has hired a domestic helper Om PrakashSaha resident of Tatulivillage, Uttarakhand from an agency on a contract for a year. It also surfaced that the helper was also missing and probably fled the scene four hours before reporting of the incident,” the statement said.
“Different teams were deputed to various locations. The vehicle used by the suspect was traced to be carrying the suspect to Jammu which was timely intercepted and the accused was arrested while trying to flee territorial limits of Jammu and Kashmir. He confessed to committing the crime. Prime motive apparently seems to have been robbing of jewelry which the victim was donning at the time of incident,” it said.
“Investigation of the case has been taken up and the case has been solved within one hour of reportage of the incident in addition to nabbing of the culprit the case being supervised by SP Hazratbal Irshad Hussain Rather and SDPO Zadibal Shafat Ahmed and being investigated by SHO Lal Bazar Samir Jamid. People have appreciated the role of Srinagar police for professional investigation,” it said.
The lady was later identified as Mala Puffi, 85, wife of Late Ghulam Ahmad Sheikh of Behrar Lal Bazar, Srinagar.
