ARMY OFFICER STAGED SHOPIAN ENCOUNTER FOR ₹20L, SAY POLICE

The army captain charged with killing three youths in the July 18 fake encounter in Shopian did it for ₹20 lakh in reward money, according to the case charge sheet filed by police.

“By staging the encounter, Capt Bhoopendra Singh of 62 RR and two other civilians also purposefully destroyed evidence of the real crime that they have committed and also have been purposefully projecting false information as part of a criminal conspiracy hatched between them with motive to grab prize money of ₹20 lakh,” news agency PTI quoted from the police charge sheet.

HT could not independently access a copy of the charge sheet and when asked for confirmation, SP Shopian, Amritpal Singh, said: “The charge sheet is court property now. It is up to them whether they want to share it or not”.

Police named three people — Capt Bhoopendra Singh, Tabish Nazir , a resident of Chowgam, and Bilal Ahmed Lone, a resident of Arabal Nikas, Pulwama — in the 1,400-page charge sheet filed before the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Shopian, on December 26 into the killings of Rajouri residents Imtiyaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed and Mohd Abrar.

The charge sheet, according to the news agency, has statements of four army personnel — Subedar Garu Ram, Lance Naik Ravi Kumar, Sepoys Ashwini Kumar and Yougesh — who were part of Capt Singh’s team at the time of the incident and were asked to cordon off the area from different directions.

“…as they were approaching the spot on foot after disembarking from the vehicle they heard a few bursts of live ammunition even before they had laid the cordon,” said the charge sheet.

Later Capt Singh told them that he had to fire as the hiding militants were trying to escape. It said the accused captain of 62 Rashtriya Rifles “furnished false information to mislead the senior officer and for getting” an FIR lodged to “tailor fit his motive of grabbing prize money in furtherance of criminal conspiracy”.A police statement on December 27 after the filing of the charge sheet said the investigation revealed the conspiracy was hatched to abduct the victims and stage the encounter.

The charge sheet was filed after the army said it had completed its summary of evidence against its men.

The three Rajouri residents were killed in an encounter on July 18. While the army initially said that the three were terrorists, later it admitted that the powers vested under the AFSPA 1990 were exceeded by its men