The real story of the lead protagonist of The Kashmir Files

Terrorists pierced the chest of his brother hiding in the drum, but what happened next was even more painful

The Valley was shaken by the violence on March 19, 1990 against Kashmiri Pandits. Bal Krishna Ganju was also killed in this terrorist incident. Bal Krishna's elder brother Shiban Krishna Ganju says, 'You cried today after seeing The Kashmir Files, whenever we close our eyes every day for 32 years, our four-storey house is visible in front, that rice kept on the fourth floor. A drum full of it and my brother's sieved chest covered in blood.

The story of The Kashmir Files revolves around the reel character, whose real story is even more creepy and hair-raising than the film. The person who was killed hiding in the drum was named Bal Krishna. At around 8 in the morning, he was preparing to go to office, oblivious to the fact that the terrorists were determined to target him today. If this work was done only by the terrorists, then the matter was different, because their purpose is to spread terror, but the neighbors were also partners in his killing.

Bal Krishna's elder brother Shiban Krishna Ganju says, 'You cried today after seeing The Kashmir Files, while we feel that incident every day for 32 years, when we close our eyes, the same dreadful scene roams in front of us.'

Bal Krishna must have been about 35 years old when this incident happened. They also have a daughter, who was about two years old at the time. His elder brother Shiban is now 75 years old.

If the neighbors had not become enemies, the brother would have survived.

Shiban said, 'Early morning my brother was getting ready to go to office. He was on the third floor, my sister-in-law probably on the second floor. 4 people rushed inside. Asked my sister-in-law- where is your husband? He had a gun in his hands. Sister-in-law said, he has gone to office. Child Krishna was not found.

Then they returned. There were 2 more people standing outside. Then our neighbors, who were Muslims, signaled that he was hiding in the house. My neighbor and mine were on the same level. They could see that my brother was on the fourth floor. The terrorists stormed the fourth floor. 8 bullets were fired in the chest of the brother hidden in a drum full of rice. I still have that FIR with me.

The dreaded terrorist Bitta Karate was our neighbor. His real name was Farooq Ahmed Dar. Many more people were our neighbors. Later it came to know that many of these people have become dreaded terrorists. We didn't even know when our neighbors became terrorists.

When the terrorists came down after the murder, my sister-in-law and two-year-old girl were standing in fear. He said, he is dead, go take care of him. My sister-in-law said, now kill us too, what will we do after living? How cruel they were can be gauged from their answer. One of the terrorists said, there is a need to cry over the dead body.

Did your sister-in-law tell her that blood soaked rice was also fed to her after the murder? On this question, Shiban said, 'No such thing is in my knowledge. And never my sister-in-law told anything like this. It may have happened, it may not have happened. I have not seen the film, but whoever has seen it from my acquaintances is saying that the story is of my brother. However, no one from the director of the film or his team has contacted us or our family.

My brother was loyal to the country that's why he was killed!

Bal (brother's household name) was an engineer in MTNL. In that area there was only one channel of communication with the Central Government and Governor Jagmohan ji - the tower of MTNL. My brother was the only expert in that office. He was an electronic engineer. Had he left, the contact between the government and the governor would have been lost from that area. I went to pick him up and his family on February 21, 1990. After a lot of pressure, he had made up his mind to leave, but on February 22, he did not know what happened. He said, "If I go, this entire area will lose contact with the government." I can't let this happen in such a bad situation.

What happened on 21-22 February 1990

Things were getting worse in Srinagar, I used to live in Udham Singh Nagar. I thought that before the situation gets worse, I should bring brother and sister-in-law. On February 21, I left for my home by bus. Chhota Bazar, Kani Kadal was a bus stand near Karan Nagar, the bus was about to drop me there, but the driver came to know about something, he dropped me at a short distance. The name of this place was Barajula.

I hid like a stunned, scared and scared and left for home on foot. Then I see, more than 10,000 jeeps, cars, trucks were passing by. The people in them were shouting loudly - what do we want - Pakistan.

Some had one in their hand, and some had two guns in their hands. The vehicles were full of weapons. They had all come to Barajula to dump weapons. I thought Pakistan has attacked. I hid there for about an hour and a half. At quarter to 8 I left from there, reached home.

I stayed there on the night of 21 February. I said, baby, now you all come with me. Nothing is right here. He also agreed to something, but in the morning he did not know with whom he spoke. Perhaps there was talk with the Governor and someone in the Central Government. He said no, I can't go. If I go, the connectivity of this area will be completely lost. We celebrated a lot, he did not believe. If he didn't come, my sister-in-law didn't come either.

My brother had asked for security from the company but he did not get it.

My brother had asked for security from the company but he did not get it.

I later learned that Bal had sought protection from the company, but did not get it. Yes, in the end, he used to come to pick up and drop the MTNL jeep as the violence and strike escalated.

Friends, neighbors betrayed

My brother had told that the neighbor and his friends have told him that nothing will happen to him. Some of his friends were also in the local newspaper. was a journalist. All were Muslims, but on the day of his murder, the neighbors gave the address of my brother to the terrorists. He was cheated by his friends and neighbors.