SRINAGAR: An Imam who murdered a man to sustain an illicit relationship with his wife has been arrested by police in the Kashmir capital.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Srinagar, Ashiq Hussain Bukhari said the deceased, Shahnawaz Ahmed Dar, a resident of Budgam district, had been missing from Qamerwari locality since September 29.
Four days later Mr Dar’s body was retrieved from the river Jhelum.
Giving details, Mr Bukhari said the victim had sought help from the Mohammed Amin Naik (hailing from Kulgam district), who led prayers at the Abu-Turab Mosque in Band, Qamerwari, to resolve his marital dispute.
But, he said, investigations revealed that the Imam was already a constant visitor to the in-laws of the deceased and that he had developed an illicit relationship with his wife.
He added the Imam’s phone details revealed that he would often talk to Mr Dar’s wife for long, late in the night.
The Imam was already a constant visitor to the in-laws of the deceased and had developed an illicit relationship with his wife.
According to the SSP, on September 29 the deceased, unaware of all this, visited the Imam after late evening prayers and “narrated before him the bitter relations between him and his wife and requested him to ease out the conflict.”
“Since the Molvi had already plotted a conspiracy to eliminate him, he advised the deceased to recite some versus of Quran on a flowing river and provided him Tasbih (rosary) with directions to recite these verses of Quran 313 times …and insisted nobody should see him doing so,” Mr Bukhari said.
He said the Imam took Mr Dar to nearby Cement bridge, Qamarwari and asked him to close his eyes and recite the verses of Quran – the moment he started the recitation, the Imam pushed Mr Dar who drowned.
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“The Imam was put to sustained questioning and he confessed that he has develop illicit relations with the wife of deceased and that the husband was the hindrance in their relation.”
The police say a Pheran – a long wollen overcoat of sorts – belonging to the Imam and also his identity card were recovered on Mr Dar’s dead body.
This is not the first time that local prayer leaders have murdered for love, a crime which statistics say has increased during the last two years in the state.
A similar case came to the fore in the city’s Batmalloo area last year.
Mr Bukari has requested all the Masjid Intizamia Committees or Mosque organising committees to verify the antecedents before selecting Imams for their Mosques.
