Jammu 1991 railway blast: Two arrests end 35-year wait, families cry foul
Police arrest two men in a 1991 Jammu railway station bombing after a cold-case review; families insist on mistaken identity.
More than three decades after a bomb ripped through Jammu Railway Station, killing three people and injuring 18 others, police say they have finally arrested two men suspected in the attack. The arrests, made in August, mark the first major breakthrough in a case that had gone cold for 35 years.
The first suspect, 56-year-old Altaf Hussain Sheikh, was taken into custody on August 13 from his home in Bijbehara's Baba Colony in Anantnag district. A week later, police arrested another absconding suspect, Showkat Khan, from Anantnag. Both were booked under the Ranbir Penal Code and the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, the anti-terror law in force at the time of the blast.
The case dates back to April 2, 1991, when an explosion occurred on Platform No. 1 of the Jammu Railway Station. Hours after the blast, police had arrested Aman Ullah Khan. His questioning led investigators to believe that Sheikh and Showkat, both in their early twenties then, had gone into hiding. But the trail went cold, and the case was shelved.
The revival came after senior superintendent of police Shailendra Singh was transferred to the Government Railway Police (GRP) in Jammu in January 2024. Known for tracking down over 400 absconding offenders in his career, Singh ordered a re-examination of cold cases. A special GRP team was formed to trace the suspects, focusing on verifying public records rather than relying on physical likeness.
Investigators said the team traced Sheikh's movements from his last known address in Marhama village, where his parents had moved after buying land. He reportedly shifted locations frequently before settling in Baba Colony, where his family owned ancestral property. There, he established himself as a businessman, first as a soft drink distributor and later as the owner of a medical shop. He married and had three children.
Police said identity was confirmed through the village headman and chowkidar of Marhama. However, Sheikh's family and neighbours strongly deny the allegations. His 21-year-old daughter questioned the timing of the arrest, saying her father was a student in Class 11 at the time of the blast and later graduated from college before starting a business. Neighbours also insisted he had lived openly under the same name and held valid identity documents.
One neighbour posed a pointed question: "How is it possible for someone in Kashmir to be absconding for this long?" The family maintains that Sheikh is a patriot and that the arrest is a case of mistaken identity.