Army says no information on officers involved in ‘fake encounter’ case

Responding to the district court’s non-bailable warrant against its five personnel, accused of involvement in an alleged fake encounter...

Responding to the district court’s non-bailable warrant against its five personnel, accused of involvement in an alleged fake encounter, the Army said it had no information about them. However, it sought six weeks to locate them.

The accused personnel, Army said, had been transferred and were no longer with the Kilo Force. However, Principal District and Sessions Judge Hasnain Masoodi gave one week to Army to locate the personnel and submit the report.

The court on April 1 had issued a non-bailable warrant against the Army personnel for their alleged involvement in conspiring to kill an Imam. The warrant came after the Army refused to present before the court the accused personnel, including a Colonel. The accused are Colonel Vikram Singh of 13 Rashtriya Rifles, his second-in-command Lt Col V K Sharma, Major Rishi, JCO Puran Singh and Naik Satya Lal. They are accused of conspiring to kill Showkat Ahmad Kataria, a prayer leader at a Srinagar mosque.

The Army’s contention is that no J-K investigating agency has the authority to probe its personnel until a prior sanction was obtained from the Centre. In a revision petition pending before the court, General Officer Commanding, 15 Corps, has pleaded that the sanction for prosecution of the accused personnel should have been obtained “as per Section 7 of Armed Forces (J&K) Special Powers Act, 1990” from the Centre.