Srinagar : Police on Monday said that a chargesheet was filed on Monday against five accused, three of them dead and one at large, in connection with killing of an army soldier in central Kashmir’s Budgam district this year.
On afternoon of March 7 this year, the soldier Sameer Ahmad Malla went missing from his Lokipora village of Khag Budgam. Three days later, the body of the soldier from Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry was recovered from a ditch in fields of village Labran Khag area of the district.
Those named in the chargesheet include Athar Illahi Sheikh son of Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh of Lokipora Khag and according to police he is a OGW of LeT and is presently lodged in Kot Bilawal Jail.
Three killed militants Mohammad Yousuf Dar alias Kantroo (LeT Commander) of Cheki Kawoosa Narbal, Faisal Hafeez Dar of Aripanthan Magam and Hilal Ahmad Sheikh alias Hanzullah of Shrakwaari Wagoora Baramullah have been also charge-sheeted along with a “foreign (militant) Ghazi Bhai alias Pathan Bhai alias Usman Bhai” and according to police he is “at large.”
“During the course of investigation one OGW Ather Illahi Sheikh was apprehended who upon questioning admitted that he along with other four accused (militants) abducted Malla on March 7 and they tortured him which resulted in death of Mohammad Sameer Malla in an orchard of Labran village and buried the body of the victim in a ditch in nearby field.”
Accordingly, police in a statement to Global News Agency said that Ather Illahi was arrested while three militants were killed in a gunfight at Village Malwa Kunzar Baramulla on April 21-22.
The changesheet has been filed under section 364, 302,392, 201,149 IPC,16,18,19,20,38,39 ULA(P) Act, the police said.
“ Pertinent to mention that expert opinions were to be obtained from CFSL Chandhigarh due to which producing chargesheet got little bit delay, it said.
Malla was posted in Jammu and had come home on leave as his wife had given birth to their second child recently.
Malla’s role had earlier come under investigation in 2018 for allegedly driving army officer Major Leetul Gogoi and a local girl to a Srinagar hotel. This incident came few months after Major Gogoi was awarded ‘Commendation Card’ for his ‘sustained efforts in counter-insurgency operations’, days after he tied a villager—Farooq Ahmad Dar— to the bonnet of his jeep and paraded him through villages on election day in 2017. For fraternising with the local woman, Gogoi was given six months loss of seniority by the army. (GNS)
