J&K: 3 missing persons found dead near waterfall in Kathua

In a tragic incident, bodies of three missing persons were found at a waterfall in the higher reaches of Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.

Darshan Singh (40) and Yogesh Singh (32), both residents of Marhoon, and Varun Singh (15), a resident of Dehota, had gone missing on March 5 evening while returning from a marriage function in Lohai Malhar in the Billawar tehsil, officials said.

Efforts are on to retrieve the bodies, the officials said, adding the cause of their death would be known only after a postmortem.

A massive search operation was launched by the security forces, the bodies of the three missing persons were found through drones in a water body near Lohai Malhar area of Kathua, media reports said.

One of the three missing persons had contacted his family two days back, saying they had lost their way in the forest while coming back.

According to NDTV citing sources, the area has a large presence of terrorists and has witnessed multiple terror attacks in the last two years.

BJP legislator Satesh Sharma had raised the issue in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Friday. "I want to inform the House about three missing civilians. We seek answers from the government," Sharma said.

In February also, two civilians were found dead in the same area.

On February 16, bodies of two villagers -- Shamsher (37) and Roshan (45) -- were found at village Kohag in Billawar and their postmortem revealed they were strangled to death.

Last month, Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK), a wing of Jammu and Kashmir Police, apprehended Parvez Ahmad Khan in Delhi, a key figure linked to terror funding and connections with militants from proscribed terrorist organisations.

The CIK said, "Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK), in a covert operation, arrested a terrorist, Parvez Ahmad Khan, from Delhi, for his involvement in terror funding and links with terrorists of a proscribed terrorist organization(s) operating from across the LoC."