Eesa Fazli, a Hizbul Mujahideen militant who was killed in an encounter along with his two associates in Anantnag district on Monday, was an engineering student who left his studies in 2017 and joined militancy.
A resident of Shadab Colony near Soura in Srinagar, Eesa was a third-year engineering student when he left Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University in Rajouri district on August 15 last year to join Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.
Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hinda is a radical outfit which calls for jihad to establish a Caliphate in Kashmir.
After knowing about his son joining militant ranks, Easa's father, Naeem Fazli, a government higher secondary school principal, had taken to Facebook to make a passionate call to his son to return home.
It was probably the first such appeal made by any parent to his militant son in Kashmir.
In his message, Naeem had appealed to his son to return, insisting that he was not on the right track.
However, the father's appeal had no impact on the son. On Monday, Naeem had to announce his son's death on social media.
"As per reliable sources my son Eisa Fazili has left for heavenly abode," he wrote on his Facebook timeline.
Easa, according to family sources, was good in studies and had been among the 31 students selected for a six-month industrial training in June last year.
A senior police officer said he was in Kashmir from June to August last year and that is when he came in contact with militants, who lured him into militancy.
"As per our sources he was the mastermind behind the killing of on-duty police constable outside the residence of separatist leader Fazal Haq Qureshi in February this year," he said.
The Islamic State had claimed the responsibility for the attack on their official channel.
"Seeing his social media posts, it is not difficult to predict that Easa had an inclination towards the global terror outfits," the officer said.
The IS claiming responsibility for the policeman's murder was the second such incident in the last four months.
In November last year, the terror outfit claimed responsibility for an attack in Zakura on the outskirts of Srinagar, in which a policeman and a militant were killed.