Even as 24 hours have passed, the family of Ambreen Bhat, an artist popular on social media and from Budgam in central Kashmir, was clueless about the reasons behind her killing inside the house on May 25 evening.
Khazir Muhammad Bhat, ailing father of the victim, watched from the kitchen window a youth entering the house on the pretext of booking a shooting for a song with Ambreen on that evening. She, Mr. Bhat said, politely turned down the offer to perform because “she had decided to take rest for a few days”. The conversation between Ambreen and the unidentified man, however, was punctuated with a loud bang.
“The pistol-borne youth was accompanied by an unmasked youth. In the middle of the conversation when Ambreen was saying ‘she was not feeling well and asked the youth to come later for booking a shoot’, the youth pulled out a pistol and fired on the chest and head of Ambreen on the verandah of the house. She died immediately,” Mr. Bhat said.
