‘Army captain, 2 others tried to destroy evidence’

SHOPIAN: The army captain involved in the fake encounter in Kashmir’s Shopian district last July and two other civilian accused haven’t provided any information about the source of weapons planted on the three slain youths and had also attempted to destroy the evidence, a police chargesheet said. Captain Bhoopendra Singh had also provided wrong information to his superiors about the recoveries.

The army captain involved in the fake encounter in Kashmir’s Shopian district last July and two other civilian accused haven’t provided any information about the source of weapons planted on the three slain youths and had also attempted to destroy the evidence, a police chargesheet said.

Captain Bhoopendra Singh had also provided wrong information to his superiors and the police about the recovery made during the staged encounter, the chargesheet filed by the SIT of the Jammu and Kashmir Police before the chief judicial magistrate here said.

The case relates to the July 18, 2020 encounter in Shopian’s Amshipura in which three youths were killed and dubbed as terrorists. Later, the army ordered a Court of Inquiry after reports appeared on social media that the three youths were innocent.

“No leads regarding the source of illegal weapons as illegally arranged by accused” for planting on the bodies were provided, the chargesheet said.

“By staging the encounter,” the three accused “have purposefully destroyed evidence or real crime that they have committed and also have (been) purposefully projecting false information as part of a criminal conspiracy hatched between them with the motive to grab a prize money of Rs 20 lakh,” it said.

The army, however, had denied that its captain staged the encounter for Rs 20 lakh, saying there was no system of cash rewards for its personnel for any acts in combat situations or otherwise in the line of duty.

“The evidence was destroyed by accused Captain Singh,” the chargesheet said.

Singh, who has been placed under detention, along with the other two accused -- Tabish Nazir and Bilal Ahmed Lone -set fire to a shelter at the encounter site, according to the chargesheet. The army, in its FIR registered at Heerpora police station, had claimed that based on “their own input about hiding of unknown terrorists in village Amshipora”, the encounter was launched on July 17, 2020 during which three unidentified hardcore terrorists were neutralised.

Two pistols with two magazines and four empty pistol cartridges, 15 live cartridges and 15 empty cartridges of AK series weapon and other objectionable items were recovered from the encounter site.

However, during the ballistic and forensic examination of the scene of crime, four empty cartridges were recovered -- two of which were from 7.65 mm and two from 9 mm pistols (used by the army). “The seized fifteen 7.62x39 mm rifle cartridge cases (used in AK rifles) were found to have been fired from more than four firearms. “From the circumstances at the crime scene which are contrary to the findings of the ballistic expert opinion the version of the accused captain Bhoopendra Singh... regarding information furnished by him in FIR is not supported.” PTI