Valley shopkeeper dies after being thrashed by stone pelters

A 25-year-old shopkeeper who had been injured by stone pelters in Srinagar earlier this month succumbed to injuries in the hospital  on Wednesday evening, a police spokesman said in Srinagar.
 
The spokesman said Tariq Ahmad Bhat, a shopkeeper at Gojiwara Chowk in old city 'was severely beaten by a group of stone pelters on December 3 when he defied their dictates of forcing him to shut down his shop'.
 
"On that day, a group of miscreants appeared in Gojiwara area and resorted to pelting

stones on shopkeepers to enforce a shut down.  The shopkeeper Tariq Ahmad Bhat objected to their dictates and refused to close his shop," the spokesman said in a statement.
 
"The miscreant pelted stones on his shop and severely beat him with a cricket bat. He suffered serious head injuries and was shifted to Soura medical institute for treatment, where he succumbed to the injuries today," he added.
 
He said police has registered a case and arrested four stone pelters involved in the killing of the shopkeeper.