A suspected thief impersonating a security forces official has allegedly killed a groom-to-be during a fake search operation in Jammu and Kashmir's Qazigund on Thursday.
Zahid Ahmad Banday, 25, who was to get married next month, was attacked with a sharp-edged weapon during a midnight heist attempt by the accused, Naseer Ahmad Sheikh.
Locals said Sheikh, a resident of a neighbouring village who was later caught by locals and handed over to the police, was seen in a security forces uniform and was armed with a pistol, a dagger and a walkie-talkie.
He asked all the family members to deposit their mobile phones as security personnel had laid a cordon around the house after information about the presence of suspected terrorists, locals said.
"Initially, we thought it was genuinely a search operation by security forces because it's not unusual in Kashmir. But when he started checking stuff inside rooms, Zahid grew suspicious and confronted him. During the fight, the intruder knifed Zahoor and tried to flee," a relative said.
"After attacking Zahid, he jumped out of the window from the second floor of the house. He broke his leg and was not able to walk when he was captured and handed over to police," the relative added.
He said the accused appears to be a part of a gang because a lone person can't carry out such a "search operation".
