Two held in Valley after villagers allege fake encounte

Jammu & Kashmir Police have detained a former Special Police Officer and a counter-insurgent in North Kashmir in connection with the alleged kidnapping

Jammu & Kashmir Police have detained a former Special Police Officer (SPO) and a counter-insurgent in North Kashmir in connection with the alleged kidnapping and subsequent killing in an encounter of three youths last month. Police are investigating whether the youths who disappeared from their homes in Nadihal village were the same as those killed in an alleged fake encounter in the Machil sector on the Line of Control.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Nadihal today,alleging that former SPO Bashir Ahmad Lone and counter-insurgent Fayaz Ahmad alias Gazi had handed the three youths over to the Army,which killed them on the LoC on April 30.

Sources said Bashir Ahmad Lone and Fayaz Ahmad Gazi have told interrogators that they did hand the youths over to an Army unit in the Machil sector. The two are also believed to have provided the police with some vital information on the case,which is now being investigated at a high level.

A police spokesman confirmed that a few people had been detained in connection with the disappearance of the Nadihal youths. These persons are being interrogated, he said.

The families of the youths Shehzad Ahmad,Riyaz Ahmad and Mohammad Yusuf Lone lodged a missing complaint at the Panzulla police station on May 10,accusing Bashir Ahmad Lone and Fayaz Ahmad Gazi of kidnapping.

Bashir Ahmad used to visit our home and meet my son. Last month,he came to our village and took away my son along with two other village boys. Since then nobody knows what happened to my son and the other two boys, said Ghulam Mohammad Khan,the father of Shehzad Ahmad.

Ghulam Mohammad Khan said he suspected Shehzad and his friends had been killed by the Army. My sons face resembles the picture of a man who is being described as a militant killed in an encounter on the LoC on April 30, he said.

Story continues below this ad

Sopore SP Altaf Khan today visited Nadihal and had detailed discussions with the families of the youths.