The police issued a public advertisement in leading dailies of Kashmir announcing the reward.
This is for the first time that such a huge cash reward has been announced in the state in relation to the cracking of a crime.
The rape and murder of 17-year old Asiya Jan and her 22-year old sister-in-law Neelofar Jan kept the Valley on the boil for nearly two months since its occurrence on May 30 and continues to simmer politically and socially.
A division bench of the state high court is monitoring the case being investigated by the SIT and it was on the orders of the bench that four police officers including the then district police chief of Shopian, Javed Iqbal Mattoo, were arrested and their blood samples collected for DNA matching.
The bail application of the four accused police officers is being heard by a single bench of the high court right now.
Analysts here say that by announcing the big reward the SIT expects a breakthrough in the case, which has eluded the team till now.
