Army captain among three named in Shopian fake encounter charge sheet
The 1,400-page charge sheet was filed in the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Shopian, on Saturday in the killings of Rajouri residents Imtiyaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed and Mohammed Abrar.
Days after the army completed the summary of evidence in an alleged fake encounter in Shopian on July 18 that left three civilians dead, the Jammu and Kashmir police has filed a charge sheet in court against three persons including an army captain.
The 1,400-page charge sheet was filed in the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Shopian, on Saturday in the killings of Rajouri residents Imtiyaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed and Mohammed Abrar
“We have filed the charge sheet in the Shopian case,” said Shopian superintendent of police Amritpal Singh.
The three accused have been identified as army captain Bhoopendra Singh alias Major Basheer Khan of 62 Rashtriya Rifles, Tabish Nazir , a resident of Chowgam, and Bilal Ahmed Lone , a resident of Arabal Nikas, Pulwama. The police said Bilal Ahmed Lone had turned approver in the case.
A police statement said an investigation had revealed that captain Bhoopendra Singh, Tabish Nazir and Bilal Ahmed Lone had hatched a plot to abduct the three men and stage a fake encounter.
“They deliberately and purposefully chose not to follow SOPs {special operating procedures}, they planted illegally acquired weapons and material on their dead bodies after stripping them of their identities and tagged them as hardcore terrorists in possession of war-like stores and deliberately providing false information to colleagues/seniors,” the statement said.
The charge sheet was filed after the army on Thursday said that it had completed its summary of evidence against its men.
“The summary of evidence is being examined by the authorities in consultation with legal advisers for proceeding further. The Indian Army is committed to ethical conduct of operations,” army spokesman Colonal Rajesh Kalia said.
The three Rajouri residents were killed in an encounter on July 18 in Shopian. While the army initially said that the three were “terrorists,”it later admitted that the powers vested under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1990, had been exceeded by its men, who also breached the dos and don’ts of the chief of army staff and approved by the Supreme Court.
Three families of Rajouri had identified the slain men from their pictures on social media and alleged that the army had killed them in a fake encounter in Shopian where they had gone to work.
