Srinagar,(PTI) Three people involved in the killing of veteran journalist Shujaat Bukhari have been identified by the Jammu and Kashmir Police and one of them is escaped Lashker-e-Taiba terrorist Naveed Jatt, a Pakistani national, police officials said here.

Two locals were also identified by the police and are believed to be from one of the villages in south Kashmir. Police were trying to corroborate the evidence from the ground, they said

The details about the plans to kill Bukhari surfaced during an investigation in one of the recent encounters at Kulgam during which police officials got evidence to suggest that Jatt was in the middle of the motorcycle on which three terrorists were seen on the CCTV footage minutes before gunning down the journalist on June 14, they said

Jatt, who escaped from the busy SMHS hospital in February this year, is associated with Lashker-e-Taiba

They said a Pakistan-based blogger, a resident of Srinagar and now settled there, has also been identified. The blogger had started a hate campaign against Bukhari after he had attended Dubai conference last year

Bukhari, Editor-in-chief of local daily Rising Kashmir, was killed on June 14 by three men outside his office at press enclave here. Two of his PSOs were also killed in the attack

Hours after the sensational killing, police had released CCTV grabs of the attackers, who were riding a motorcycle. While one of the attackers was wearing a helmet, the other had worn a mask

While police has accused Lashker-e-Taiba for killing Bukhari, the terror outfit has denied it.