By Naseer Khora
Doda: Hundreds of people Thursday staged protests at the Old Bus Stand here in this mountainous district demanding fast track investigations into the alleged murder of a young student in the neighbouring Punjab state last month.
22-year-old Mehraj Khalid Mintoo of Irfan Abad here was found dead under mysterious circumstances on January 18 at the Rayat and Bahra Institute of Engineering and Management, Hoshiarpur, Punjab, where he was pursuing final year in B-Tech. However, his family had alleged that Mehraj was murdered.
Following the death of the student, the Home Minister Sajad Ahmed Kichloo asked the Home Department to send a formal request to Punjab government seeking the formation of a special investigation team to probe the young student’s death. Kichloo also sought coordination between state police and their counterparts in this regard.
Meanwhile, the family members of the deceased joined by the members of the Doda Joint Civil Society today held protests at the Old Bus Stand here. The protesters said that Mehraj’s death has taken the number of mysterious deaths of the Valley youth studying outside the state to six. The protestors were demanding CBI enquiry into the deaths.
“Even the state government has failed to come out with actual cause of the death of Kashmiri students in other colleges in Universities,” the protesters said.
Prominent civil society members that participated in the protests included Ishtiyaq Dev, Nuzhat Iqbal Zargar, Mohammad Iqbal Balwan, and others.

KR Desk