Army captain, 2 others attempted to destroy evidence: Charge sheet

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 charge sheet said.

Captain Bhoopendra Singh had also provided wrong information to his superiors and the police about the recovery made during the staged encounter, the charge sheet filed by the Special Investigation Team (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 charge sheet 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 charge sheet 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 charge sheet.

The accused captain was in touch with Fayaz Ahmed, a special police officer (SPO) posted with the Special Operations Group, through two mobile numbers registered in the name of civilians.