SRINAGAR, 7 March 2007 — The state police yesterday arrested a member of the elite Special Operations Group (SOG) in the murder of a local imam who was reportedly framed as a foreign militant and killed in a fake encounter here last year.
The Special Investigating Team (SIT) headed by Farooq Ahmad, deputy inspector general of police, central Kashmir range, probing the disappearance and subsequent murder of Shaukat Ahmad Kataria, an imam of a downtown mosque in summer capital Srinagar, arrested Tariq Ahmad, a constable of the SOG Ganderbal unit who according to the investigators was involved in Kataria’s disappearance and murder.
This is the first arrest in the second fake encounter case involving a local imam who went missing from Zadibal area of downtown Srinagar on Oct. 4 last year. He was gunned down in an alleged stage managed encounter in the Bazipora village.
The SIT is in all probing five such disappearances and subsequent murders of civilians framed as foreign militants.
Police has already charge sheeted seven cops including the former Ganderbal senior superintendent of police, Hans Raj Parihar, deputy police superintendent, Bhadur Ram, Farooq Ahmad Gaddoo, assistant sub-inspector of police, Farooq Ahmad Paddar, a head constable and three constables of the SOG.
“We shall be presenting the charge sheet in the imam’s murder shortly in a court of law as our investigation is nearing completion,” said a senior police officer here.
