Ex-J&K High Court Bar association prez Mian Qayoom arrested for 2020 advocate Babar Qadri murder

Srinagar: Former J&K High Court Bar Association president Mian Qayoom was arrested by in connection with the 2020 murder of Advocate Babar Qadri, official sources said on Tuesday.

Qadri, in his 30s, was shot dead by two gunmen who came as clients to his Hawal Srinagar house and shot him dead on September 24, 2020. The case is under investigation by the Special Investigating Agency of J&K police.

“He was arrested after investigations hinted at his role as conspirator,” the sources said.

There is, however, no official word about his arrest so far.

In a video on Facebook, Qadri, who was also a prominent panelist on TV news channel, just hours before his death, had criticised Mian Qayoom and accused him of suppressing dissent.

In 2022, J&K Police's SIA had conducted searches at the residences of Mian Qayoom and two other lawyers in Srinagar.

Soon after Qadri was shot dead, an FIR was lodged in Police Station Lal Bazar, Srinagar. Subsequently police formed a special team and in August 2021, they filed charges against five suspects.

In August 2021, when security forces shot dead the chief commander of The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow front of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Abbas Sheikh, and his deputy Saqib Manzoor the Police underlined that Saqib was also involved in Qadri’s murder.