J&K’s DG prisons murdered at home in Jammu

J&K’s Director General of Prisons, Hemant Kumar Lohia, was found murdered at his residence in Jammu late in the night on Monday.

The 57-year-old Lohia, a 1992 batch IPS officer, was found dead with his throat slit and police have launched a manhunt for his domestic help who is missing after the crime.

“Dead body of Shri Hemant Lohia DG Prisons JK found under suspicious circumstances. First examination of the scene of crime reveals this as a suspected murder case. The domestic help with the officer is absconding. A search for him has started. Forensic teams and Crime teams are on spot. Investigation process has begun. Senior officers are on spot. J&K Police family expresses grief and deep sorrow over the death of their senior officer”, Additional Director General of Police, Jammu Zone, Mukesh Singh, said at midnight.

“He was at his friend’s house with family. His house was under renovation”, Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh, added.

Well-placed sources said that the officer from Gowahati, Assam was staying with family at his friend Rajiv Khajuria’s house near Baru Resort on Udhaywala-Gajansu Road on the outskirts of Jammu city. The official accommodation allotted to him at 191 A/D Gandhi Nagar was under renovation. At around 11.00 pm Monday, the news of his murder spread like a wild fire.

Sources said that for most of the time in Jammu, Lohia used to stay at his friend Rajiv Khajuria’s house in Udhaywala. Khajuria runs the NGO NDF in Rajouri. He is also the founder of Modern Cultural Society. It was not immediately clear whether Khajuria was at home or out at the time of the IPS officer’s brutal murder.

Sources said that the IPS officer’s throat was found slit with a sharp-edged knife and there were also some other stab injuries on the body. Some reports said that liquor was found sprinkled on his body and an attempt seemed to have been made to burn the body inside the house.

Lohia returned to Jammu and Kashmir after an inter-State deputation in the North-East early this year. In March 2022, he was posted as Commandant General (Additional Director General) Home Guard, Civil Defence and State Disaster Response Force. Upon his elevation to the rank of DG in August 2022, he was transferred and posted as DG Prisons in Jammu and Kashmir.

Senior Government functionaries including Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and DGP Dilbag Singh paid rich tributes to Lohia who was known as an upright and well-mannered officer.