Teenaged duo goes missing in J&K's Kathua days after bodies of 3 missing persons found

Srinagar: Two teenagers have gone missing in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir, days after bodies of three civilians were found by police in the same district two days after they went missing.

The missing teenagers, identified as Mohammad Din and Rehman Ali, were reportedly last seen in the Rajbagh area. Police have registered a case and launched a search operation to locate them, officials said.

This incident comes just days after the bodies of three locals, Yogesh Singh (32), Darshan Singh (40), and Varun Singh (15) went missing while traveling to a wedding in Lohai Malhar of Kathua on March 5. Two days later their bodies were found in a river flowing through the Inchhu forests in the Malhar.

On Monday ruckus erupted in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly over the killings with ruling National Conference (NC) members claiming that the law and order situation in J&K, which is under the Central government, had worsened.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah claimed attempts are being made to give a “political colour” to the killings, and questioned the police for allowing the leader of opposition (BJP MLA Sunil Sharma) to visit the bereaved families but preventing the Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary from doing the same.

On Sunday Union Minister Jitendra Singh said the three civilians were killed by terrorists and asserted that there is a “deep conspiracy” to spoil the atmosphere in the area. J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has already ordered a thorough probe into the killings

The Resistance Front, believed to be an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit, has reportedly claimed responsibility for the killings.