Bodies of three missing civilians recovered in Kathua

Jammu, Mar 8: The bodies of three civilians, including a teenaager, were spotted in the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district today.

The victims went missing from Lohai Malhar area since March 5 when they were heading home after attending a wedding, officials said adding the bodies were spotted with the help of drones and ground patrolling by security forces.

They said the bodies were recovered near a waterfall in the upper reaches of Billawar in the district.

The victims were identified as 15 year old Varun Singh, 15, a resident of Dehota village, 32 years old Yogesh Singh and 40 years old Darshan Singh, both residents of Marhoon village, they said.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police have not established the exact circumstances under which the trio were killed. The bodies were sent for medico-legal formalities “to know the cause of death”, police said.

The police, while not ruling out the possibility of militant involvement, said the incident was “a matter of investigation and to presume any reason would be premature at this point of time”.    

This is the second such incident in the past 30 days and has again spread a wave of fear among locals in Kathua’s Billawar. On February 16, two civilians, Roshan Lal and Shamsher, were found dead near a stream at Batheri village. Locals held street protests in Billawar against these deaths and called for a shutdown. 

“The fresh incident is a matter of concern for locals. It’s a major challenge for the administration. Earlier also, two locals were found dead in Billawar. Till date, the circumstances under which they died have not been established. I foresee these incidents as indicators of bad times ahead,” BJP leader and MLA Billawar Satish Kumar Sharma said.