Aakash Mehra, son of a famous Krishna dhaba owner, shot at by the motorcycle borne terrorists on February 17 in a high security zone of Sonwar during the visit of a 24 member foreign delegation, lost a crucial battle of life in a Srinagar hospital in the wee hours of Sunday.
According to close family members, “Aakash was on ventilator support for the last two days in SMHS hospital Srinagar. His condition deteriorated in the wee hours of Sunday before succumbing to his fatal injuries”.
Aakash had received bullet injuries in his abdomen and chest from a very close range.
The mortal remains of the young businessman were shifted to Jammu to perform his last rites.
Several close relatives and family friends, who attended the last rites, criticised the union territory administration headed by Lt-Gov Manoj Sinha for not organising better treatment facilities outside Jammu and Kashmir to save the precious life of a young businessman.
“The authorities wasted precious time and also misled the family during the period of the last 11 days.If Aakash was not responding to the treatment to their satisfaction they should have referred him to New Delhi or any other place”, several well wishers of the family claimed.
The government should have responded swiftly. “It was a targeted killing to scare away members of the minority community”, the relatives of the family said.
Ramesh Kumar Mehra, father of Aakash Mehra, has been running the food joint since 1984 in the area. He stayed there during the peak militancy and never faced any security threat.
The eatery served only vegetarian food and was frequented by a large number of tourists and local residents. Several VVIP's including former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah too visited the food joint to relish his favorite food items.
Two days after the terror attack on the famous eatery Inspector General of Police, Kashmir range Vijay Kumar had claimed all three terrorists involved in the attack were arrested by the police from Pulwama and Dangerpora in Baramulla.
The terror attack, according to police, was a planned strike to scare away non-locals settled in Kashmir. According to police, the terrorists had done recce of the fortified area 10 days in advance on the instructions of their handler identified as 'Ghazi'.
Lt-Gov Manoj Sinha in his condolence message said, “Saddened to hear about the tragic loss of Akash Mehra, son of the owner of Krishna Dhaba in Srinagar. Condolences to the bereaved family. May God give strength to the family to bear this irreparable loss.Terrorists will never succeed in their nefarious designs, and those responsible for such heinous acts shall be brought to justice”.
Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah posted a tweet after learning about the death of Aakash. Omar tweeted, “Very sad news about Akash, son of the owner of Krishna Dhaba in Srinagar.
After a brave fight he lost the battle to recover from injuries suffered in the earlier attack. May his soul rest in peace & may his family find strength at this difficult time”. PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti also tweeted a condolence message saying, “Shocked & saddened to know that Akash Mehra who ran Krishna Dhaba in Srinagar succumbed to his injuries after being shot at by militants. May his soul rest in peace & deepest condolences to the bereaved family”.