Srinagar: The army has said the man who was
beaten up by mob on suspicion that he had made an
assassination bid on Hardline Hurriyat faction chairman Syed
Ali Shah Geelani during a rally here was actually a member of
its "covert team".
"An army man was beaten up by mob due to mistaken
identity (in the public rally addressed by Geelani yesterday).
His service pistol, identity card and mobile were snatched by
them," a defence spokesman said here in a statement issued
late last night.
A "covert team" of army and state police was sent to
Sopore, 55 km from here, to gather information on the presence
of "terrorists" in the public rally, he said.
Hardline Hurriyat faction had yesterday claimed an
assassination attempt was made on Geelani by a man carrying a
pistol who was nabbed by people at the rally.
"The man was nabbed when he was asked to show his
identity card at the rally...Why would a man come to a rally
with a pistol. It could possibly have been an attempt to
target Geelani," Hurriyat spokesman Ayaz Akbar had said.
The defence spokesperson said, "The man, seriously
injured, was rescued by his colleagues, and admitted to the
army hospital...A case has been lodged by the army against the
miscreants."
Meanwhile, police also denied that there was any
assassination attempt on Geelani and said man who was beaten
up was Naik Kamlesh Kumar Mishra, working in Army's Military
Intelligence (MI).
PTI
First Published: Saturday, November 12, 2011, 13:55