1. Home
2. Front Page

CBI files statement of facts before HC

KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 10/20/2013 10:49:59 AM

SRINAGAR, Oct 19: Complying with High Court directions, the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) has filed the statement of facts before the Court submitting that it has started investigation into Sailan--Poonch massacre which had led to killing of 19 people fifteen years ago.
Showkat Ahmad Makroo, the Assistant Solicitor General of India told Kashmir Times, that in its statement the CBI has said that it has registered an FIR and the investigation already started will be carried out expeditiously. “Besides the investigation will be taken to its logical conclusion,” the CBI statement filed before the Court has said, Makroo informed.
Sources in the court said that the CBI has registered an FIR against police personnel and army officials in the Poonch fake encounter case in which 19 persons, including women and children were killed in August 1998.
On November 22, 2012 Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar had ordered CBI inquiry into the extra-judicial killing in Surankote area of Poonch on a plea by families of the victims seeking a re-investigation.
CBI has asked for records from civil administration as well as army of the people who were at the helm when the incident took place. On the intervening night of August 3 and 4, 1998, 19 persons -- six males and 13 females -- were killed at the house of Hassan Mohammad Sheikh at Sailan village in Surankote.
The police, in its FIR, had blamed foreign militants for carrying out the killings but an inquiry conducted by the State Human Rights Commission in October 1998 ruled out the involvement of militants.
The families of the victims had filed a petition for re-investigation in the case before the High Court in 2011.
On November 21, 2012, the High Court had ordered CBI probe into the matter. In its preliminary reply filed before the High Court, the police had said there was no record available with it regarding chargesheet filed before the court or closure report of the case as the records had caught fire.
The case pertains to a massacre that took place during the night intervening August 3rd and 4th of 1998 at Sailan, about 14 kilometers from Surankote Tehsil of Poonch in Jammu province. The 19 killed included children, women and aged persons besides a pregnant woman Zareena.
In their petition filed on December 2011 against Director General of Police, Defense Secretary Union of India, SSP J P SinghSurankote, Major Goora 9 Para RR, Sevak Singh additional SP Poonch, and other five people including SHO police station SurankotePoonch, the relatives of slain civilians had demanded reinvestigation of the incident by Special Investigation Team of police or CBI.
After conducting an inquiry into the incident, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) on 21 October 1998 ruled out involvement of militants in the massacre and instead blamed the army and the police in the killings. The SHRC recommended an enquiry into the case.