By Altaf Hussain
BBC News, Srinagar
**A member of a prominent committee investigating the rapes and deaths of two women in Indian-administered Kashmir has been found dead.**The discovery has triggered a general strike in the town of Shopian.
Police say Mohammad Hussain Zargar, 42, went missing after leaving home on Saturday morning. His body was found on Tuesday evening.
Local residents allege that his death is the handiwork of those involved in the rapes and murders of the two women.
Shopian - the area where the rapes and murders took place - has seen days of protests and strikes over the case.
The bodies of the two women were discovered in a canal in the town on 30 May.
The government initially maintained that they had died in an accident and that they had not been raped or killed.
But the police later said they had been raped and murdered.
The incident seriously challenged the credibility of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who ordered a judicial inquiry into the case following days of violent protests in the Kashmir Valley.
Evidence destroyed
Mr Zargar was an active member of the Majlis-e-Mushawarat (consultative committee) which is spearheading the protest over the deaths.
Local residents say his murder is a tactic to prevent the Majlis-e-Mushawarat from investigating the case by those responsible for committing the crime.
Mr Zargar had reportedly promised to sell his property to fight for justice for the two women.
His body was found barely a few hours after Chief Minister Abdullah told a public rally near Shopian town that he would not rest until those involved in the rapes and murders were brought to justice.
Four police officers, including the then district police chief Javed Iqbal Matoo, were arrested in July on the orders of the high court after it emerged that they had destroyed evidence related to the case.
Shopian observed a 47-day shutdown over the rapes and murders.
The strike was only called off after an appeal by the state’s chief justice, Barin Ghosh, who is heading a high court investigation into the crime.