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Journalism of Courage
The Border Security Force on Saturday suspended Commanding Officer R K Birdi and shunted him out of the 68 Battalion for his alleged role in the killing of a 16-year-old schoolboy on February 5. A Court of Inquiry into the murder has been ordered and it will be led by an Inspector General-rank officer from Tripura,the BSF said.
The officer (Birdi) was shifted from Nishat to Panthachowk yesterday and today he was suspended, BSF spokesman I S Rana told The Sunday Express. He was not suspended for any role in the murder but for not reporting the facts, he said.
Action against Birdi underlines the BSFs flip-flop on the issue. Soon after the killing,it vehemently denied the involvement of its personnel saying that the allegations were fabricated and totally baseless.
That denial continued for five days even as the evidence clearly pointed towards BSF involvement. On Wednesday,the BSF finally admitted that jawan Lakhwinder Kumar was allegedly involved and he was handed over to the police.
The J&K Police Special Investigation team on Saturday recorded the statements of 14 BSF jawans who were accompanying CO Birdi when the schoolboy,Zahid Farooq,was shot and killed.
Sources said that although Lakhwinder has already confessed to having shot Zahid,investigators are trying to reconstruct the sequence of events because eyewitnesses and phone records raise questions over Birdis role.
Sources said Birdi was on his way back from a routine medical check-up at the BSFs Subsidiary Training Centre,Humhama. On his way back via the Brein neighbourhood his cavalcade was greeted by a group of jeering boys,including Zahid,who were on their way home,their cricket match washed out by rain.
Eyewitnesses are said to have told the police that Birdi stopped his vehicle and got out with four jawans,including Lakhwinder. The boys are said to have abused the BSF personnel before running away.
Phone records,sources said,showed that between 4 pm and midnight that day,Birdi kept calling a senior police officer to check on the incident. Police are probing the extent of Birdis involvement in the firing that followed. Some eyewitnesses have told the police that Birdi had ordered Lakhwinder to fire,a charge the spokesman denied on Saturday.
