Srinagar: Body of a man, who was abducted on October 27 by unidentified gunmen in south Kashmir’s Kulgam, was recovered from an orchard in the district on Tuesday.

The deceased, identified as Sheeraz Ahmad Bhat, was the owner of the house where seven civilians died in a blast which took place after an encounter ended following killing of three militants in October this year in village Lanoo in Kulgam.

Official sources said Bhat was abducted by unknown gunmen nearly a week after the blast on October 27 from village Lanoo in Kulgam.

They said after following various leads, the body of the deceased was recovered from an orchard in Awahatoo. “Bhat’s body, which had torture marks, was buried in the orchard,” they added.

The postmortem of the deceased has been conducted, they said, adding after completing all the legal and medical formalities, the body of the deceased was handed over to his relatives for last rites.

“The reason behind the killing was not known as of now,” they said, adding investigation into the incident is going on.