Terrorists trying to capitalize on the incident of DG’s murder, read what 2 IPS said?

Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Jail Hemant Kumar murdered by slitting his throat. (file photo)

Director General of Prisons of Jammu and Kashmir and 1992 batch IPS Officer Hemant Lohia The police officers who worked with him are denying that there is a direct terrorist hand in the murder. Some are speaking openly on this issue and some are silent. TV9 Bharatvarsh spoke to all the police officers of Jammu and Kashmir Valley and some IPS officers of Hemant Lohia’s batchmate on Tuesday. The bottom line of this conversation is coming out that some terrorist organizations may be trying to capitalize on the incident of Hemant Lohia’s murder. That too when Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself is present in the Jammu and Kashmir Valley on a three-day visit.

On Tuesday, TV9 Bharatvarsh spoke to Sunil Garg, a former IPS officer present in Delhi and a batchmate of Hemant Lohia, on this issue. Sunil Garg has taken voluntary retirement from Delhi Police Special Cell (Police Training and Operation) a few days back. Sunil Garg said, “Hemant Lohia, a native of Assam, was my IPS batchmate. He was such a settled person that it is difficult to describe in words. Yes, even after being calm, cheerful, friendly, such an incident would happen to Hemant, it was not imagined. When I went to Kashmir Valley (Srinagar) twice, every time I found the same Hemant who was there during IPS training. Yes, after IPS training, Hemant had definitely become a learned police officer posted in the Kashmir Valley. When he used to talk, it was difficult to guess, how he took out so much information from the person in front of him with a smile.

I do not agree that Hemant’s murder is a terrorist incident.

Sunil Garg further says, “With the long experience of the Indian Police Service of almost 30 years and knowing Hemant very closely, I can say many things with certainty. Hemant Lohia could never easily identify anyone by seeing and speaking that he is an IPS officer. Living and living like ordinary people. His mingling with every section of the society in the blink of an eye. All these qualities not only made him the favorite of everyone. Rather, this quality of them proved to be better or better than most of us in gathering intelligence input from the point of view of police job. The murder of such Hemant (DG Jail Hemant Lohia Murder) inside the house is not easily embraced. That too without just a single weapon. Inside a friend’s house.” Talking to TV9 Bharatvarsh in New Delhi, Sunil Garg said in response to a question, “No, I do not agree at all at the moment that Hemant’s murder is a terrorist incident. The terrorist incident and the way Hemant was killed. There’s a big difference between the two.”

Terrorist organizations are playing blind cards

On what basis are you saying this? When asked, Sunil Garg said, “I have full suspicion that some so-called terrorist groups are trying to cash this unfortunate incident that happened suddenly inside the house along with Hemant. Because when Hemant is murdered, then Union Home Minister Amit Shah is also on a tour of Kashmir Valley. Therefore, the small terrorist groups thought that, after washing their hands in the flowing Ganges, why not get Hemant’s murder written by making noise in their names. Had Hemant’s murder been a terrorist incident, then, some state-of-the-art deadly weapon would have been arranged to kill him. They would have been targeted in the open in a public place. He was killed inside the house by his servant around ten o’clock in the night. That too by throttling. By cutting throat and stomach with a glass bottle. It is a matter of thinking that where does a terrorist have so much free time while killing a senior IPS officer from a DG Jail? They find a way to escape after saving their lives by ‘killing’ the ‘target’.

Have you been an IPS officer yourself? In your view if this is not a terrorist incident then what is?

When asked, Sunil Garg told TV9 Bharatvarsh special correspondent, “In my view it is a sudden murder. It is very important to find the reason for this. It is a murder without any prior arrangement. In this, without arranging any weapon in advance, as soon as it came to be murdered, Hemant was brutally murdered by strangling a glass bottle. The manner in which Hemant Lohia’s murder has been executed, it is clear to me that such crimes are the result of a sudden dispute! This is my personal experience. It is possible that after investigation something else will come out. But a question is also important in this that the state’s DG Jail from the Jammu and Kashmir Valley, who did not have any shortage of government servants. Why did he keep a private person during his posting in such a sensitive place (Jammu and Kashmir Valley) only six months ago? Second, I don’t even think this terrorist incident is because, no terrorist has enough time to put himself at risk by arranging for his victim to be set ablaze after killing him.”

‘Not at all a terrorist incident in my view’

About this, TV9 Bharatvarsh spoke to another DGP level retired police officer of Jammu and Kashmir State Police on Tuesday. He said, “This murder is not a terrorist incident at all in my view. Terrorist groups, however, are always on the lookout to capitalize on such heinous massacres by putting them in their lap. I also worked in the police of the valley for 36 years. Whatever may be the inside story in the Hemant Lohia murder case from my experience, but it does not appear to be a terrorist incident at all. In response to a question, the same officer said, “Actually when the Union Home Minister is on a tour of the Valley. At the same time, such a big police officer should be murdered. So imagine, already sitting ready to weaken the Indian government, why would even small terrorist groups want to miss taking credit for such a big and sensational incident? Just let the investigation be completed, I hope the story of Hemant murder should come out in a different way.”