Curious case of Zubair Bhat: Kashmiri youth's mysterious death in Delhi, flashpoint in Srinagar

The Print

10 hours ago

Flanked by Bhat's sister and brother at their residence in Aali Kadal of Srinagar, Iltija Mufti, the daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, said Bhat had informed his sister about the police taking his Aadhaar card and assaulting him with sticks.
Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party leader Iltija Mufti Thursday alleged that Bhat was killed after torture and discrimination by the Delhi Police and a hospital in the national capital.
New Delhi: A day after allegations of torture, the Delhi Police has denied arresting 30-year-old Srinagar resident Zubair Ahmed Bhat. In fact, they say they got a call from the Safdarjung Hospital only after his admission to the hospital by the personnel attached to the police control room. The police control room, officers claim, had received a call that Zubair was showing symptoms of seizures in front of the residence of a doctor in Lajpat Nagar.
'There is proper proof. He was a 30-year-old man who was the sole breadwinner for the family. He was in the handicrafts business. The family is saying that after he reached Delhi, police personnel at Lajpat Nagar caught and beat him up and repeatedly assaulted him the next day when he went back to take back his Aadhaar card,' Mufti told the press Thursday.
'He was also asked if he was a Kashmiri. Being Kashmiri is enough for people to hang us. What was his fault that he was Kashmiri?' Mufti also alleged that doctors at a Delhi hospital denied him treatment.
Chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also paid a visit to Bhat's family residence in Srinagar.
'Mirwaiz assured the family that he stands with them and the people in their pursuit of justice for Zubair. He reaffirmed his commitment to continue raising his voice against injustice and to seek accountability, so that such tragic incidents are not repeated,' his office said in a statement Friday.
Ms. @IltijaMufti_ speaks to media on Zubair Ahmad Bhat sb's tragic demise in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/ite7Mhpx4P
— J&K PDP (@jkpdp) June 5, 2025
However, the Delhi Police have refuted the allegations citing no relation and engagement with him in respect to any case or proceedings.
South East Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police Hemant Tiwari said there was no case or any proceedings ongoing with regards to Bhat and that the police did not question him or arrest him even for a brief period of time.
'The police had no role and link to Bhat. He was neither a suspect nor a stakeholder in any case. He was not at all arrested or even questioned by the police,' DCP Tiwari told ThePrint.
PCR call by doctor & suspicion of prolonged drug abuse
Explaining the sequence of events leading up to Bhat's death around 11.30 pm on 29 May, Delhi Police officers said Bhat was first noticed the same evening by a doctor in front of her residence in Lajpat Nagar area of the national capital.
'A call was made to the Delhi Police control room at 6.07 pm on 29 May when an eye specialist employed at Safdarjung Hospital spotted him with symptoms of seizures. She made a call saying that an unknown man was in front of her house and also raised suspicion about being a drug addict in the PCR call,' a Delhi Police officer told ThePrint.
The PCR team picked him up from the Lajpat Nagar area and admitted him to the Safdarjung Hospital emergency department which recorded 'multiple injection marks on the left cubital fossa (front of elbow joint)' on his body, the Delhi Police officer further said.
In the investigation for the treatment, doctors sought urine samples for detection of drug remains in his body, the officer further said.
Another police officer said that a preliminary probe conducted so far suggests that Bhat used to be in Delhi for six months a year and was employed by a Lajpat Nagar-based businessman who used to sell Kashmiri shawls at Dilli Haat. 'He used to stay in the ground floor of the accommodation of his employer.'
On the morning of 27 May, Bhat had allegedly called his employer seeking Rs 50,000 for shopping for his sister's wedding. After agreeing, the employer asked him to return to his accommodation.
However, he did not go there and instead went to a hotel in the national capital but not before buying four strips of Tapentadol for Rs 2,000 from a chemist that he used to visit regularly, the police officer has said.
'Between December last year to May, he has bought Tapentadol, a well-known opioid worth Rs 29,000 from the same shop. He did not stay at his usual accommodation but instead proceeded to stay at a hotel after acquiring the drug,' said another police officer.
Police officers said that Bhat's sister called him on the afternoon of 28 May, but he did not take the call. But he messaged her on Whatsapp to tell her that the police had beaten him up 'because he was Kashmiri' and taken his Aadhaar card. 'Shortly after, he said that he was in a hotel,' the officer said, adding there was CCTV footage from the hotel confirming his presence at the time he claimed he was with the Dehi Police.
'Later that night he also had to break open his room door as he had lost his key. Even that incident has been captured in the CCTV footage,' he added.
The cause of death has been suspected to be encephalopathy due to drug abuse and 'altered sensorium due to drug intoxication', the police officer further said.
Sources said that around 25 people who had gathered around him in Lajpat Nagar area before he was taken to hospital by Delhi Police PCR van have confirmed his status at the time the police arrived.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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