Domestic help arrested for murder of JK DG (Prison)

Jammu, Oct 04: A 23-year-old man working as a domestic help was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly murdering Jammu and Kashmir Director General (Prisons) Hemant K Lohia here, police said.
Yasir Lohar’s arrest from a field in Kanhachak area followed a major all-night manhunt, police said in a statement, adding that his interrogation was underway.
The 1992-batch IPS officer was found dead on Monday night at his friend’s house on the outskirts of Jammu, with burn injuries on his body and his throat slit.
Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh said Lohia was staying at the residence of his friend here at Udheywala area of Jammu for the past some time.
He said that after having dinner on Monday night, Lohia went to his room, where the domestic help, who had been staying with Lohia for the past six months, was already waiting to massage his (Lohia’s) ailing foot.
“When the police officer entered the room, the accused latched the door from inside and attacked Lohia with a sharp-edged weapon. He also tried to suffocate him by putting fire on a cloth,” the DGP Dilbag Singh said.
According to the top cop, the family members and guards of Lohia tried to break open the door to save the officer but by the time they succeeded, the police officer had succumbed to his injuries.
Dilbagh Singh termed the killing of the senior police officer by a domestic help as “highly unfortunate” and claimed that the mental condition of the accused was not stable.
“From the preliminary investigations, it has come to the fore that the accused was mentally not stable and quite aggressive in nature,” the DGP said.
Asked about a terrorist group claiming the responsibility of the attack, the DGP said, “There are certain shameless militant groups who leave no opportunity to own up all such killings. But thus far, there seems no militancy connection in this attack. But during the investigation, we’ll look into all the angles”.
Pertinently, PAFF, an offshoot of the proscribed terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, had claimed the responsibility of the attack through a social media post.
Earlier, the ADGP Jammu Zone Mukesh Singh said: “no terror act is apparent as per the initial investigation but thorough probe is on to rule out any possibility”.
The police officer also said that a weapon of offence, allegedly a broken ketchup bottle, has been seized besides some documentary evidences, including a diary, reflecting the mental state of the accused.
“The interrogation of the accused has started,” the police officer said in a tweet.
Meanwhile Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has expressed shock over the sad demise of the officer and paid condolences to the bereaved family members.
In a tweet, Sinha wrote, “Shri Hemant Lohia was an outstanding Police officer and a great human being. He served the country with great honour & dedication. Shocked and deeply grieved at his sad demise. My condolences to the bereaved family and friends”.
The 57-year-old Lohia, who was promoted and appointed as Director General of Prisons in the Union Territory in August, had shifted to his friend’s house only a few days back.
Earlier, the ADGP had said that preliminary examination of the crime scene indicated that Lohia must have been applying some oil on his foot which showed swelling.
The killer suffocated Lohia to death and also used a broken ketchup bottle to slit his throat and later tried to set the body afire, he said.
The guards present at the residence of the officer saw fire inside his room and broke open the door, the ADGP said.
The officials said raids were conducted by special teams at different places including the domestic help’s home town in Halla-Dhandrath village in Ramban district where some persons including his fiance were detained for questioning.
The ADGP said the CCTV footage collected from the incident site showed the accused running away after the commission of the crime.
“Lohar was working in this house for nearly six months Initial investigation revealed that he was quite aggressive in his behaviour and was also under depression, he said
“A thorough probe is on to rule out any possibility. The weapon of offence has been seized besides some documentary evidence reflecting his (domestic help’s) mental state, he said.
Officials said the body of the deceased officer was shifted to the Government Medical College (GMC) hospital Jammu for postmortem.
Sharing some pages from the diary of the accused, a police official said Lohar, a school dropout, was apparently fed up with his life.
The domestic help wrote in his diary that he was 99 percent sad but wearing a 100 percent fake smile’.
I am 10 percent happy, having zero percent love in life and 90 percent tension in life. I hate my life which only gives pain and waiting for death to restart my life, he wrote in the diary. With inputs from PTI