Srinagar: A youth from Srinagar’s Bemina area who went missing after he went trekking along with his friends to Gangbal in Ganderbal has joined Hizbul Mujahideen, police said on Tuesday.
“Yes. He has joined,” Kashmir Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar told reporters at the wreath-laying ceremony held for a CRPF soldier who was killed in an encounter with militants in Pulwama district earlier on Tuesday.
Kumar, however, refused to divulge more details about Dar’s joining the militants.
Dar had gone on a trekking expedition to Naranag in Ganderbal district along with his friends on June 13 and has been reported missing since then.
There were speculations that he was one of the three militants killed in an encounter with security forces on June 21 in the Zoonimar area of the city.
The family of the missing youth has denied that Dar had any links with the militants. They claimed that he was working in a private company in Gurgaon and had returned home only due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Reader correspondent