FAHEEM ASLAM
Srinagar, Oct 7: Two days after the Jammu and Kashmir government sought action against the police officials ‘involved’ in the ‘cold-blooded murder’ of three teenagers in south Kashmir’s Islamabad district on June 29, police on Thursday named the ‘guilty’ cops in the First Information Report that has been filed in the gruesome incident.
 “We have named the accused cops in the FIR as desired by the government,” said the Deputy Inspector General of Police, South Kashmir, Shafqat Wattali.
 Wattali minced no words in acknowledging that police had evidence against the guilty cops. But he was quick to add that they were gathering “more evidence” in the case to make it “more transparent and foolproof.” “I never said that police has no evidence against the accused. One constable has already been arrested under section 302 of CrPc. The case is under investigation,” Wattali said, rejecting the report in the Jammu-based newspaper which had quoted him saying that “they had no evidence against the cops.”
 The DIG asserted that the case (Islamabad killings) was heinous. “It is a very heinous case and the state government is committed to do justice to the affected families. We are in touch with different sources with regard to more evidence against the accused cops so that we don’t go to the court with half-baked facts. Evidence is very much available with us, but we have asked different people, including the Islamabad Bar Association, to give us whatever evidence is available with them,” Wattali said.
 A Jammu-based daily Thursday quoted Wattali saying: “We do not want the culprits to get free from the court once charge-sheeted. Therefore, we want to act once we have substantial evidence in hand. But as of now there is not enough evidence to act against the cops.”
 The comments drew flak from the state administration which has just initiated action against the police officials allegedly involved, directly or indirectly, in the killing of the teenagers named Shujat-ul-Islam, Ishtiyaq Ahmad Khanday and Imtiyaz Ahmad Itoo, who were murdered in Ancihdoora area of Islamabad town on June 28 after police chased away the youth protesting injury to another teenager, Arshad Ahmad, that morning.
 Shujat-ul-Islam, 17 was a student of class 12. Ishtiyaq, 15, was a student of class 10 while Imtiyaz Ahmad Itoo, 17, worked in a bakery shop.
 The Home Department had sought inclusion of the names of four accused cops in the FIR that has been filed in the case. It has also decided to initiate “disciplinary proceedings” against the then Senior Superintendent of Police, Islamabad while placing under suspension the accused Station House Officer for “poor supervision” of the incident.
 “Since police is a culprit in the case, it has no right to issue statements about any aspect of the case till the investigation is completed,” said an officer in the Home Department, insisting not to be named. “Police must do whatever it is directed to do. The senior police officer (DIG) should not have made the comments that police has no evidence against the accused cops. We have sought inclusion of the names of the accused cops in the FIR only when the magisterial inquiry has indicted them. Such comments come in the way of smooth investigation into the case.”
 The officer said: “We assure the families that anyone who is involved in the incident would be punished as per the law of the land.”
 The DIG, however, told Greater Kashmir that there was no question of protecting the guilty. “We have named the accused police officials in the FIR. The accused policemen are in touch with us and are cooperating in the probe. We are waiting for the Magisterial Inquiry report to see what evidence lies therein against the erring cops. We are committed to do justice in the case.”

Lastupdate on : Thu, 7 Oct 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 7 Oct 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 8 Oct 2010 00:00:00 IST