Army Captain among 3 named in Shopian fake encounter case chargesheet

ANI photo

SHOPIAN: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Saturday (December 26) produced a chargesheet in a court against three people, including an Army Captain, for their involvement in an alleged fake encounter in Shopian district in which three civilians were killed. Police said the chargesheet was produced in the court of the principal district and Sessions Judge of Shopian.

"We have produced challan before court and now further legal action will be taken as per law," a police official said. The challan was produced as per the details collected by special investigating team ( SIT ) which was constituted by police to investigate the case. 

"The three accused in this case are Captain Bhupinder of 62 Rashtriya Rifles, Bilal Ahmad, resident of Pulwama and Tabish Ahmad, resident of Shopian," said Wajahat Hussain, Deputy Superintendent of Police. Hussain has been heading the Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted to probe the case.

The Army on December 24 issued a statement saying that the process of summary evidence had been completed in the Amshipora (Shopian) encounter of July 18, 2020 in which three labourers were killed although they had no connection with any militant activity. The Army said the summary of evidence was being examined by legal experts to ascertain if further action was needed in this case.

The three youths, who were killed in 'fake Shopian encounter', were dubbed as Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists by Army, who had claimed that a cache of arms and ammunition were recovered from their possession. 

After relatives of the three slain labourers belonging to Rajouri district of Jammu division raised a hue and cry, police conducted DNA profiling of the three families and it was established that the killed persons were locals. It had been claimed by those who carried out the encounter that the three were foreign terrorists from whose possession arms and ammunition was recovered. The Army has now accepted that the three involved persons had exceeded their powers which were vested in them under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

The three slain civilians were identified as Abrar Ahmad, 25, Mohammad Ibrar, 16 and Imtiyaz Ahmad, 20. Their bodies were later exhumed and handed over to their families for the final rites.