Srinagar: A special investigation team (SIT) was formed on Saturday to expedite the probe into the lynching of Deputy Superintendent of Police Muhammad Ayub Pandit, even as three more persons were arrested, a Jammu and Kashmir Police spokesman said.
Pandit was lynched by a mob here on Thursday night outside the Jamia Masjid while he was on duty.
“Three more persons have been arrested in this case taking the total number of arrests to five,” the spokesman said.
Director General of Police SP Vaid told reporters that 12 accused have been identified in the case, of whom five have been arrested and the rest would soon be nabbed.
A mob had lynched Pandit outside the city’s biggest mosque in Nowhatta area where he was deployed on access control duties to protect the devotees offering prayers.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik was arrested by police here on Saturday and shifted to Central jail.
He was arrested from his residence in Maisuma area, said a police official.
Malik along with Hurriyat leaders Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq has been spearheading anti-India movement in the Kashmir Valley for quite some time.