A person who saw what happened in Srinagar on January 25, 1990, told a special CBI court on Thursday that JKLF chief Yasin Malik lifted his “pheran,” pulled out his gun, and opened fire at a group of IAF troops.
Rajwar Umeshwar Singh, a former soldier in the Indian Air Force who lived through the terrorist attack that killed four IAF members, said in court that Malik was the main shooter. Malik watched the court case on TV from the Tihar Jail in Delhi, where he has been detained since 2019.
Forty people were hurt on January 25, 1990, in Rawalpora, which is on the outskirts of Srinagar. Four men were killed, including squadron head Ravi Khanna. They were waiting to be picked up and taken to the old Srinagar airport for work when terrorists opened fire on them.
They were charged on August 31, 1990, in the designated TADA Court at Jammu, along with five other people.
JKLF agents Ali Mohammed Mir, Manzoor Ahmed Sofi alias Mustafa, Javed Ahmed Mir alias “Nalka,” Showkat Ahmed Bakshi, Javed Ahmed Zargar, and Nanaji are also accused of killing IAF troops.
“This is a big development in the case,” said Senior Public Prosecutor for CBI Monika Kohli. “The prosecution witness has named Malik as the person who shot the person.”
Two major cases against Malik are the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed in 1989, who was the daughter of Union home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed at the time, and the killing of the IAF men. Kohli is in charge of both of them.
Malik was offered the chance to question the witnesses against him, but he turned it down and has been pushing to be brought into court in person.
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