Remembering Martyr Sub-Inspector Altaf. A 21-year-old girl student was sprinkled with acid by a Maruti 800 borne youth in Srinagar’s Nowshera on December 11, 2014. Five days after the incident, Altaf along with then IGP Kashmir, Abdul Gani Mir and @bhatray was chairing a high-level meeting to review the investigation. It was then Altaf began using extensive data-mining and tower-tracking. Some 4000 numbers were put under surveillance. Altaf zeroed in on four of them he found in regular contact with the victim. But all those four numbers were switched off on the day of the attack, hinting the meticulous crime planning involved.
But finally, two business partners who were also partners in crime were caught in Altaf’s investigation net. Irshad Wani alias Sunny of Wazir Bagh was the mastermind. Before arresting the duo, Altaf learned about Irshad’s frequent Ajmer visits. To get closer to him, he disguised some of his SIT members as devotees and sent them to visit some local faith-healers. “Altaf believed that Irshad might be in touch with faith-healers to lure the girl,”.
Later, Altaf tracked Irshad’s movements in Jammu, where he was finally caught. Once questioning began, Irshad vomited out that he had been stalking the victim for some time and that his repeated advances were rejected by the college girl. This left him in a vengeful huff, making him obtain 40 litres of distilled water and two litres of concentrated Sulphuric Acid from a shop in Batamaloo to settle the scores. “Altaf brilliantly cracked the case despite suffering from a chronic back problem and had no access to the victim who was being treated in Chennai, The case only proved his meticulous eye for detail and dedication for follow up. He was the man of dogged perseverance.” I congratulate @bhatray sb and whole team who successfully cracked this case.