Army ends inquiry into Machil fake encounter

Srinagar, October 24: Army has concluded the internal inquiry into the killing of three civilians in a fake encounter in Machil area of Kupwara last year.

A local daily, quoting sources, said that the inquiry had identified Army conduits who picked up the civilians in the last week of April of 2010 on the promise of engagement as labourers near the Line of Control. It said that the army insisted that the trial should be shifted to the Army court.

Three youth, Riyaz Ahmad, Muhammad Shafi and Shahzad Ahmad, all residents of Nadihal village in Baramulla district, were lured by a former Special Police Officer and his accomplices to Machil on the pretext of jobs. They later handed them over to the Army for Rs 50,000 each. The three were killed in a fake encounter in Machil with Army passing them off as foreign militants.

The case came to light when police found discrepancies in the FIR lodged by the Army unit and launched an inquiry into the incident. The fact that the killed youth were dressed in summer clothing raised the suspicion as most of the high mountain passes along the LoC were still covered with snow at the time of the incident in April.

Later, the police charge-sheeted 11 persons including a Colonel and two Majors of the Army before the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Sopore. The troopers belonged to the Army's 53 infantry brigade.