Bullet-riddled body of migrant labourer found in J&K’s Shopian

A bullet-riddled body of a 37-year-old labourer hailing from Bihar was recovered in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district on Friday, officials said.
Officials familiar with the matter said suspected terrorists shot dead the non-local worker, who was living in Sangam area of Anantnag. He was identified as Ashok Chauchan, of Bagusaria Banka district in Bihar.
Officials said Ashok used to cut maize in Anantnag and Shopian districts. In the morning, he had gone to cut maize with his colleagues at Wandana Shopian.
“We were cutting maize in the Anantnag and Shopian. In the morning, as we were busy, Ashok received a call and left the place. We later started looking for him and found him lying dead at a distant place at in Wandana,” said one of his associates.
He said Ashok is survived by his wife and two children. The body was sent for postmortem. “This is handiwork of militants and we are investigating this case,” said a senior police officer.
Soon after the body of the migrant worker was recovered, J&K Police and Indian Army began the search operation in the area to trace the killers. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the migrant worker.
This is the third attack on a non-local workers in Kashmir this year. On April 17, a migrant worker from Bihar was killed by terrorists in Bijbehara area of Anantnag. On February 7, Amritpal Singh, a labourer from Amritsar, was killed by terrorists in old city area of Srinagar. Another non-local worker, Rohit Mashi, who was injured in the incident, succumbed to his injuries three days later.
Hundreds of non-local workers are working in different parts of Kashmir and after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, the militants have been targeting them.