Police in Sopore on Wednesday said that an overground militant worker was found dead after he escaped from the police custody, a charge denied by his family members who said that he was killed in cold-blood.
In a statement, a police spokesman said that on 15-09-2020 at about 12:45 hours, one OGW namely Irfan Ahmad Dar (Age about 23/24 years) S/O Mohammad Akbar Dar R/O Sidiq-Colony, Sopore was apprehended and two Chinese Hand Grenades were recovered from his possession.
“In this regard, Case FIR No. 257/2020 U/S 18 ULA (P) Act, 7/27 A. Act was registered in Police Station Sopore and investigation taken up. During the course of investigation, a Police Team visited Chairdaji area of Tujjar-Sharief along with OGW for affecting some more recovery on the disclosure of the OGW,” read the statement.
The OGW while taking advantage of darkness and terrain managed to escape regarding which a separate Case FIR No. 71/2020 U/S 224 IPC was registered in Police Station Bomai and during search the body of OGW was found near Stone Quarry of Tujjar-Sharief.
Accordingly, the body was taken to the nearby PHC, wherefrom shifted to PCR Kashmir Hospital for fulfilling medical and other legal formalities and final disposal.
However, the family members of the deceased accused the police of dubbing their son as a militant and killing him in custody. “I along with my brother Irfan were picked up by police for questioning on September 14 and we were kept separately. I was set free but my brother was kept in the police custody,” said Javaid Ahmed, Irfan’s brother, as per news agency KNO.
He said that his brother has been killed in police custody and that he had no militant links. “My brother is innocent and was a shopkeeper by profession. He was unmarried and that the police claims about recovery of grenades is nothing but baseless story.”
Javaid demanded an impartial independent probe into what he termed as “the cold blooded murder” of his brother.