After the army started recording the statements of witnesses in the July 18 encounter in South Kashmir's Shopian, they have now asked the public to share "information/inputs" about the encounter in which three alleged terrorists were killed.
According to the latest notice in a local Kashmir daily on Wednesday, the Victor Force Headquarters has asked people "having credible inputs/information" about the encounter to contact them within 10 days.
The notice read, "Any person having credible inputs/information on the encounter by Security Forces at Village Amshipora, District Shopian, dated 18 July 2020 may please contact Deputy GOC, HQ CIF (Victor) on Tel:01933-247026 within next 10 days," read the notice by the Victor Force headquarters. It further added that the "identity and details of the person will be kept secret."
Statements of witnesses recorded, DNA Analysis conducted
Previously, the army put out a statement regarding recording the statements of witnesses," Statements of key witnesses are being recorded and progress is being monitored closely. Additional civil witnesses are being asked to depose before the Court of Inquiry. Concurrently, DNA samples have been collected from Rajouri under the aegis of JKP and sent for matching with the terrorists killed on 18 July 2020."
The Jammu and Kashmir police have also started an investigation and will conduct DNA analysis of three suspected terrorists killed in an encounter in South Kashmir's Shopian district on July 18.
The Shopian encounter case
On July 18, the Army claimed that three terrorists were killed in Shopian's Ashimpora. After which the families of three daily wage labourers filed a missing person report as they lost contact with their kins on July 17.
Controversy erupted when it was found that the youths, who were involved in apple and walnut trade, informed their families that they had got a room at Ashimpora in Shopian which coincidentally is the site where the encounter took place.
Abrar Ahmad Khan (16) son of Bagga Khan, his brother-in-law Abrar Ahmad (25) son of Mohammad Yusuf, and their relative Imtiyaz Ahmad (20) son of Sabr Hussain, all residents of Peeri, Kotranka in Rajouri district, disappeared after they left home on July 16 to work as daily-wage labourers in south Kashmir's Shopian district.
The inquiry came after questions were raised on the encounter that took place on July 18 in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian.
