Srinagar, Feb. 4 (PTI): The probe into fake encounter killings that have rocked Jammu and Kashmir has widened with the army and CRPF ordering inquiries into the role of their men in incidents in which civilians were allegedly killed and dubbed as foreign militants for gaining promotions and rewards.
The army today said it has ordered an inquiry into cases of fake gun battles in Ganderbal following media reports about the alleged involvement of Rashtriya Rifles units in these cases.
"Disciplinary action will be initiated if anyone (from army or Rashtriya Rifles) is found guilty," a defence spokesman said in a statement here.
Three units of Rashtriya Rifles had taken part in operations with the Special Operations Group (SOG) of local police in which they claimed to have killed four militants and showed the recovery of arms and ammunition from them.
A CRPF unit had also taken part in one of the operations at Waskoora in Sumbal area in which security forces claimed to have eliminated a Pakistani militant.
However, preliminary investigations into these operations by a special investigation team (SIT) headed by Deputy Inspector General Farooq Ahmad have indicated that all five persons killed were local Kashmiris who were picked up from different parts of Srinagar city and done away with in fake encounters, official sources said.
A CRPF spokesman said last evening the force has constituted an internal inquiry into the operation in which a unit had taken part and claimed to have killed Pakistani militant Abu Hafiz, who turned out to be Abdul Rehman Paddar, the missing carpenter from Kokernag.
Two senior state police officials -- Senior Superindent of Police H R Parihar and his deputy Bhadur Ram -- were arrested yesterday on charges of murdering the carpenter who was labelled a Pakistani militant and gunned down.
The custodial disappearances of five persons came to light when police investigating the case of Paddar found that ASI Farooq Ahmad Gudoo had given the carpenter's mobile phone to a person at Hajan in Bandipora area.
The carpenter had gone missing from Batmaloo in Srinagar on December 8 last year when he was with Farooq Ahmad Paddar, a police constable from his native Larnoo village.
The next day, the SOG and 42nd battalion of the CRPF registered an FIR in Shadipora police station that said they had killed Pakistani militant Abu Hafiz of Multan in a gun battle and recovered an AK assault rifle and some ammunition.
However, as soon as the body said to be of Hafiz was exhumed on Thursday, Paddar's father immediately identified him as his missing son.
In the second case, Nazir Ahmad Deka, also a resident of Kokernag, went missing from Lal Chowk in Srinagar on February 16, 2006. The next day, the SOG in Ganderbal and troops of 5 Rashtriya Rifles filed an FIR in Ganderbal police station claiming to have killed a foreign militant at Saloora.
Deka's body was identified by his kin on exhumation on Friday. An imitation perfume bottle was found on the body, leaving little doubt that the dead man was Deka as he used to sell such merchandise on the city's streets.
During its probe, the SIT found Deka's briefcase in which he stored perfume bottles from the home of ASI Gudoo, who was arrested with Constable Paddar on January 30.
Official sources said besides four policemen, two civilians were arrested for their alleged involvement in the killings.
However, officials were tight-lipped about the identity of the arrested civilians, saying the disclosure would hamper investigations.
In the third case, the SOG in Ganderbal and 24 Rashtriya Rifles claimed to have killed an unidentified militant at Ganiwan-Ganderbal on March 8, 2006 and showed the recovery of arms and ammunition from him.
However, when the SIT exhumed the "militant's" body yesterday, the family of Ali Mohammad Paddar of Gagran village in Kokernag identified it as that of their kin who went missing a day earlier.
Troops of 24 Rashtriya Rifles participated in another operation with the SOG at Ajas-Bandipora during the intervening night of March 13-14 last year. In the FIR filed in Sumbal police station, they claimed to have shot dead a "dreaded Pakistani militant" named Zulfikar.
On March 13, 2006, kin of Ghulam Nabi Wani, a resident of Kokernag, filed a report in Kothibagh police station here saying that he was missing. When the body was exhumed yesterday, Wani's relatives identified it as that of their missing kin by the initials G N tattooed on his forearm.
The fifth case of "fake encounter killing" occurred on October 5, 2006 when troops of 13 Rashtriya Rifles and the SOG claimed to have killed a militant from Karachi in Pakistan named Abu Zahid at Bazipora-Ajas.
When the grave of the alleged militant was dug up yesterday as part of the investigation, relatives of a missing cleric, Showkat Ahmad Khattana of Banihal in Doda district, had no doubt that it was their kin who was buried in it after being killed in a fake gun battle.
Constable Paddar has appeared as the common link in four of the five cases.
Officials said more arrests are likely over the next few days as the SIT has questioned more than a dozen policemen and civilians who might have been linked to the killings.
The SIT is also probing the source of arms and ammunition claimed to have been found by security forces on the dead "militants".
It is suspected that rogue elements in the SOG and other forces were putting away some arms and ammunition seized during genuine operations for use in such incidents, sources said.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has ordered a judicial probe into the cases of alleged custodial killings with Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad saying such incidents will not be tolerated and those found guilty will be dealt with as murderers.
Massive protests were witnessed at Sumbal, Ganderbal, Ajas and Kangan when the bodies of the victims were exhumed. The protestors demanded the death sentence for the perpetrators of such cold-blooded murders.
