Srinagar: Police have arrested a militant associate and are hunting for three militants who are involved in the killing of an Army soldier in Budgam district of central Kashmir, Kashmir Inspector General of Police, Vijay Kumar said.
He said that abduction and subsequent murder was a militant act. “Case of death of soldier Sameer Ahmad Malla of Khag Budgam turned to be terror act of abduction and murder. 1 terrorist associate of LeT terror outfit involved in the crime arrested. Other 3 LeT terrorists involved also identified & shall soon be dealt under law: IGP Kashmir,” Kashmir Zone Police said in a Tweet.
On 10 March, the body of soldier Sameer Ahmad Malla, who went missing on March 7 from his village, was recovered from the Khag area in Budgam in central Kashmir.
Sameer , a soldier with the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (JAKLI), had gone missing from his native Lokipora village in central Kashmir’s Budgam. Malla, who was posted in Jammu, was on leave as his wife had given birth to their second child.
“Dead body of soldier Sameer Ahmad Malla found. No mark of firearm injury found on his body. Investigation is going on. We are looking into all aspects, terror crime & murder: IGP Kashmir@JmuKmrPolice,” Kashmir Zone Police had Tweeted soon after recovery of body. Family had said that Sameer left his home to pay a visit to a neighbour in the village but didn’t return home.
They had said that since the birth of his second child, Sameer would spend the night at his in-laws’ place in Mazhama village and return to home at Lokipora village of Khag during the day. The family had issued an appeal stating asked the abductors to release him. “If he has done anything wrong, please forgive him… Please release him. We will make him resign from his job,” the family had said.
“Kantroo is one of oldest terrorist of central Kashmir amongst 5 terrorists still alive in entire Kashmir,” IGP said. “Kantroo is master mind behind killing of the soldier.”
Pertinently, Sameer first came into the news in 2018 when an Army officer Major Leetul Gogoi was detained along with a girl from a Srinagar hotel. Gogoi and the girl were dropped at the hotel by Malla in his personal car and had an altercation with hotel staff when the manager of the hotel denied them booking on finding that the girl was a local resident. Major Gogoi, who had earlier tied a villager to the bonnet of his jeep and paraded him through villages on Election Day, was indicted by the Army for allegedly “fraternising with a local woman”
Meanwhile, a statement issued by the police said: “Police in Budgam arrested a terrorist associate linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT involved in the killing of Army Jawan in Budgam.
Police in Budgam have solved a terror crime case pertaining to the abduction followed by the killing of Army Jawan by arresting a terrorist associate linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT, the statement said. “On 7th of March 2022, Police Station Khag had received information about missing of an Army Jawan namely Sameer Ahmad Malla from his residence. Accordingly, after lodging a formal missing report, the search to trace the missing Jawan was launched. During the search however his dead body was recovered on 10th of March 2022 and a proper case under relevant sections of law was registered and investigation was vigorously taken up,” police said.
“During the course of investigation, specific leads were generated which led to one suspect identified as Ather Illahi Sheikh. During questioning, he confessed that on 6th March, three terrorists of proscribed terror outfit LeT came to his house and stayed there for night and next day pursuant to a well knit conspiracy the Army Jawan Sameer Ahmad Malla was called by the said terrorist associate Ather Illahi to his residence where from he was kidnapped by all the four and thereafter was taken to the spot where from the dead body was ultimately retrieved,” police statement added.
After killing the Army Jawan, the said terrorist associate Ather Illahi Sheikh got the shovel from his house which was used to bury the dead body. The said shovel was also recovered by the investigating team. Further investigation into the case is vigorously going on, police added.