Major wanted for death of Kashmiri activist kills himself,family in US

Singh,who was with the 35 Rashtriya Rifles when the incident took place,had been missing for over a decade and had been “found” last year after his wife registered a case of physical assault with the California police.

He had remained confident that he wouldn’t be extradited. In a recent interview,the retired officer had threatened that “if the extradition does go through,I will open my mouth,I will not keep quiet”.

Reports from California said that Singh called up the police at 6.15 am on Saturday to inform them that he had killed his family. When the police reached their home,he,his wife and two children (three and 15 years old) were found dead. The eldest son (17) is in hospital in a critical condition with a gunshot injury in the head.

Singh was accused of Andrabi’s murder when he was heading an Army camp in Rawalpora,Srinagar. The officer allegedly picked up Andrabi when the lawyer was driving a car with his wife on March 8,1996. Andrabi’s body was recovered from the Jhelum river later that month and his family lodged a complaint with the local police.

Andrabi’s brother and lawyer blamed New Delhi for the death of Singh’s family members. Saying they felt sad for Singh’s family,Arshad Andrabi said: “The responsibility for the death of three innocent people directly lies with the government of India and the US. If he had been arrested,these three people would have not been killed.”

He also said their fight for justice would continue. “Singh’s death doesn’t mean the end of our fight. It (Jaleel’s custodial killing) was not one man’s job. There was a complete chain of command responsible.”

Singh was on temporary deployment to 35 RR — Territorial Army officers are usually sent for short,two-three-year tenures to active areas — when Andrabi was killed. He was named as a prime suspect but no investigation into the murder was carried out by the Army.

A civilian case was initiated but came to a standstill after police informed the court that Singh could not be traced. Singh,who left the Territorial Army a few years after the incident,is believed to have migrated to Canada after 2000 and later on to the US. He was traced to Fresno,California,where he ran the transport company Jay Truck Lines last year,after his wife registered a case of domestic violence against him,saying he had tried to choke her.

Earlier,a red corner notice had been issued on October 5,2009,against Singh,with the state government under severe pressure to bring him to justice.

His resurfacing in 2011 renewed interest in the case in Kashmir,leading to a court order for his extradition to face trial in India. The extradition proceedings were on and a request for the same is believed to have been made by New Delhi. Last month,Chief Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar,Rajiv Gupta had directed the J&K Police to furnish English translation of the chargesheet and other accompanying documents to the Ministry of External Affairs for approaching the US authorities. The contents were earlier in Urdu.

Sources said that the Army had never initiated any proceedings against the officer as the case was being “investigated” by the police. No formal court of inquiry took place and senior officials said proceedings would have taken place only after it was established in the civil court that Singh was involved in the murder.

The Selma police said that while they had arrested Singh following his wife’s complaint last year and had discovered that he was being sought in India,they could not keep him in custody on the murder charge without a warrant from international authorities.

The Selma police last had contact with Singh about two months ago when he called to complain that reporters wouldn’t leave him alone because of the murder warrant,Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims told the Fresno Bee.

— With AP in Selma