Assuring that Indian Army is committed to ethical conduct of all Counter Terrorist Operations (CTOs), a Defence Ministry spokesman on Tuesday afternoon said that a high level Court of Inquiry (CoI) into Shopian encounter on July 18 was under progress and statements of some of the key witness are being recorded.
Army on July 18 claimed to have killed three unidentified militants in an encounter at Amshipora, Shopian. However, three families in Rajouri in Jammu region claimed that deceased persons were their relatives who had gone to Shopian for work and were not involved in militancy. The killing of these persons evoked a massive reaction and all mainstream political parties demanded a high level probe into the claim of army and counter claim by relatives of the killed persons.
Defence ministry spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said on Tuesday that a high level CoI into operation Amshipora , Shopian on July18, 2020 is under progress.
He said statements of key witnesses are being recorded and progress is being monitored closely. Additional civil witnesses are being asked to depose before the Coy. Concurrently, DNA samples have been collected from Rajouri under the aegis of Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) and sent for matching with the militants killed on July 18,2020.
Indian Army is committed to ethical conduct of all CTOs. Cases where doubts are raised are investigated under due process as per the law of the land. Since the case is under investigation , further details will be shared periodically , as appropriate without affecting due legal process.
On August 13, a team headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police (Dy SP) was rush to Rajouri to collect information and complete legal formalities in connection with three persons who had gone missing on July 17.
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar told reporters on August 13 that since the missing report was filed in Rajouri, police is trying to evaluate the case and collect all technical evidence about their disappearance.
Mr Kumar said as per set procedure we have collected DNA samples of all three militants after nobody came forward to claim their bodies after the encounter on July 18 . Now we are working on two aspects—to match DNA of relatives wit the DNA of these militants and second to investigate if the (missing persons) were in contact with local militants in Shopian, he said adding everything will have to be investigated.
Three youths identified as 18- year-old Abrar Ahmed Khan, Son of Bagha Khan, Imtiyaz Hussain (26) Son of Sabir Hussain, both residents of Dhar Sakri of Tehsil Qotranka of Rajouri and 21-year-old Abrar Ahmed son of Muhammad Yousuf of Tarkasi village of same Tehsil had arrived here on July 16.
The family members alleged that last contact on mobile phone with them was on July 17, a day before they went missing after security forces claimed to have killed three unidentified militants in an encounter in Shopian.