Early life Naikoo was born in Beighpora, a village in
Awantipora tehsil of the
Pulwama district in the
Kashmir Valley of
Jammu and Kashmir, India in April 1985 into a
Muslim family. Some of his relatives have said that he had a passion for
painting, especially roses, during his school and college days. After earning a degree in mathematics he became a math teacher at a nearby school. He gave free tuition to children from economically weaker backgrounds.
Teaching to militancy career His career transition from teacher to militancy came during the
2010 Kashmir unrest when he was detained by the Indian security forces for his alleged support to
separatist protesters demanding Indian forces to "quit Kashmir" later he was released in 2012 after his release in the third week of May 2012 he left his home and disappeared then on 1 June 2012 he resurfaced with a gun and become a
militant of
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. In 2017 he became the commander (
de facto chief) of
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in Jammu and Kashmir after the death of
Burhan Wani and the defection of
Zakir Rashid Bhat. In March 2014, he was alleged to be involved in the killing of a
Sarpanch's father, Haji Ghulam Mohammed Dar in Dogripora. He was also wanted for killing and abduction of police officers, firing on a police bus and requirement in other crimes.
Jammu and Kashmir Police had alleged that he would loot orchard owners. Police say he rarely used mobiles, used a VPN when he had to, and was known to have used the Bat Messenger app to communicate. Naikoo's videos were circulated on the social media; one such video after the
revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir showed him saying that the revocation was "irrelevant to us" and the fight would continue. Naikoo carried a bounty of
₹12
lakh on his head. Naikoo's last audio message in April was related to the
COVID-19 pandemic where he requested people to follow medical advice to keep themselves protected. == Encounter ==