Shopian Encounter Case: Three questioned for role as ‘informants’

Srinagar: Three persons, who are said to have been working as informers for the Army, on Saturday deposed before the Army’s Court of Inquiry, set up to probe the July 18 encounter at Amshipora, Shopian, in which three labourers from Rajouri were killed and declared militants.

Top sources in the administration told The Sunday Express that the three persons are “the last contacts of the three deceased” and are being questioned for their role in the incident.

On September 18, the Army had confirmed that identities of the three killed at Amshipora matched that of the missing labourers from Rajouri — Abrar Ahmed (25), Imtiyaz Ahmed (20) and Mohammed Ibrar (16).

“These suspects worked as informers for the Army,” sources said, adding that there are preliminary indications “of their involvement in the encounter. Their initial version was that a group of militants was supposed to come via the Rajouri-Poonch sector and the labourers had agreed to bring them to the civilian Army sources, who would then inform the Army about the infiltrators.” However, the veracity of these claims and whether the three labourers ever agreed to such an arrangement is in question.

The J&K Police had earlier said that “militant links” of the three labourers are under investigation, however, sources said the claims made by the “army sources” will be verified when they are officially handed over to the police.

According to sources, of the three cousins — Abrar, Imtiyaz and Ibrar — from Rajouri who were killed in the July 18 encounter, one had been in Kashmir for a month and the other two joined him later. “The factual position of the claims being made by the sources will be explored by the police,” sources said.

IG (Kashmir Zone) J&K Police, Vijay Kumar had on Friday confirmed that the DNA samples of the three labourers from Rajouri have matched those of their families. (The Sunday Express)