Army Captain among three soldiers charge sheeted for fake gunfight

SRINAGAR — Police on Saturday filed a charge sheet against an Army captain and two soldiers in connection with the killing of three labourers from Rajouri district in an alleged fake encounter in Shopian district earlier this year.

Official sources said that a special investigation team (SIT), constituted for the purpose, presented the charge sheet against captain Bupinder of Army’s 62 Rashtriya Rifles battalion besides Tabish Ahmad of Shopian and Bilal Ahmad of Pulwama.

The charge-sheet runs on 300 pages and was presented before a court in the south Kashmir, they said.

On Thursday last, Army said that the process of recording “summary of evidence” regarding the killing of the three Rajouri youth in Amshipora, Shopian on July 18 this year has been completed.

“The process of recording the ‘summary of evidence’ has been completed. The same is being examined by the concerned authorities in consultation with legal advisors for proceeding further,” said the Srinagar based defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia in a statement issued on December 24.

“Indian Army is committed to ethical conduct of operations. Further details will be shared in a manner so as not to prejudice the proceedings under Army Law,” he had added.

On October 2, bodies of the three victims–Abrar Ahmed (25), Imtiyaz Ahmed (20) and Mohammed Ibrar (16)—were exhumed in Baramulla and handed over to their families for burial in their native villages.

There had been persistent demand from the poor families to seek bodies as well as immediate arrest along with stern punishment to those behind the killings.

Earlier, the Army had said that its high-level Court of Inquiry brought out “certain prima facie evidence indicating that the powers vested under the AFSPA 1990 were exceeded during the operation.”

The Defence spokesman had said that inquiry has found that the “Do’s and Don’ts of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) as approved by the Supreme Court have been contravened”.

“Consequently, the competent disciplinary authority has directed to initiate disciplinary proceedings under the Army Act against those found prima-facie answerable,” he had said.

On July 18, police in a statement had said that three militants were killed in a gunfight with a joint team of Police, Army and CRPF in Shopian district on an input by Army.

“On a specific input by 62RR about presence of (militants) in village Amshipora area, an operation was launched by them in the area,” a police spokesperson had said.

During search, he had said, the militants fired upon Army and encounter started. “Later on, police and CRPF also joined. During encounter three unidentified militants were killed,” he had said in the statement, adding, “Bodies of all the killed three (militants) were retrieved from the site of encounter.”

However, he had said, the identification and group affiliation of the slain was being ascertained.

“Incriminating materials including arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter,” he had said.

On October 8, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha visited the families of trio and assured them “justice would be ensured.”