Srinagar, June 15: One of the key witnesses in the fake encounter case of Abdur Rehman Padder, killed in 2006, on Tuesday informed the court that he had issued fuel for a police vehicle, which prosecution had claimed was used for abducting the victim.   
 “The then Dy SP Operations Bahadur Ram (one of the accused) used to issue requisitions to the Motor and Transport (MT) section for procuring diesel and petrol. He sent the driver Rajendar Kumar with the requisition to issue 25-litres of diesel to MT section. It was duly signed by the Dy SP. I followed the instructions and issued the fuel,” Muhammad Yaqoob, who was working as a clerk in the MT section at  District Police Lines Ganderbal in 2006, deposed before the Principal District and Sessions Judge.
 Prosecution had earlier alleged that on December 8, 2006 a Rakshak vehicle (no. JKO1K-1945) procured fuel from MT section and was used to take Padder from Batamaloo to Ganderbal where he was shot dead.
 Yaqoob deposed that on verbal orders of the then Superintendent of Police  and Dy SP Ganderbal he handed over the requisition slip signed by Bhadur Ram on which the diesel was procured for vehicle to the Special investigation Team headed by SP Uttam chand.
 The court has charged seven policemen, including suspended SP Hans Raj Parihar, with murder and abduction in connection with the disappearance of Abdur Rehman Padder, a resident of Larnu Kokernag, in Ganderbal.
 Cases of murder and abduction were registered against Parihar, DY SP Bhadhur Ram and five others after it came to fore that Padder, a carpenter by profession, had been picked up and allegedly killed in a staged encounter in Ganderbal after being picked from Batamaloo on December 8, 2006.
 He was passed on as a “foreign militant”, and the accused police officials had claimed reward money for 'killing a terrorist'.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
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