Srinagar, Jun 16 (IANS): A petition has been filed in the J&K High Court seeking a CBI probe into the killing of Ajay Pandita, the Kashmir Sarpanch, killed by terrorists in Anantnag on June 8.

The petition filed by a friend of Ajay Pandita says the "victim is a member of the minority Kashmiri Pandit community which has been persecuted in the Valley since 1989 till date. Even after 1989 and early 1990's, the Jammu and Kashmir police failed to act at that time and due to their inactiveness, no accused was prosecuted for the same."

It says that Ajay Pandita in an interview to a local news channel on December 3, 2019 had said that he was not safe and had expressed threat to his life.

The petition mentions that Pandita's brother has claimed that he had asked for police security but the same was not provided to him by the UT administration.

"The applicant petitioner believes that if the investigation is done by the J&K police, then there is fair chance of botched up investigation and tempering with the evidence. There are strong grounds to believe that no trail and conviction has happened in any killings of Kashmiri Pandits in the 1990's exodus. That the applicant petitioner prays that urgent CBI probe along with a judicial inquiry should be ordered by the High Court for securing justice to the victim's family and the Kashmiri Pandit community," the petition said.