From rxpgnews.com
Kashmir cop admits to framing civilians, killing them
By IANS,
Jan 31, 2007 - 6:14:12 PM
Srinagar, Jan 31 - A probe into a shootout in Jammu and Kashmir, allegedly staged by police that killed an innocent youth, has opened a can of worms with a cop confessing to having framed a number of civilians as terrorists and killing them.
Farooq Ahmad Gudoo, arrested Saturday for the youth's killing, has not only admitted to framing him as a foreign guerrilla and shooting him Dec 9, but also confessed to over two-dozen other 'shootouts' wherein civilians were framed as foreign guerrillas and killed in a similar manner, highly placed official sources here told IANS.
The Special Operation Group - of police had claimed to have killed a foreign guerrilla in an 'encounter' in north Kashmir's Waskoora village Dec 9, 2006.
However, it has been alleged that the person killed was Abdul Rehman Paddar, as the cell phone of the innocent carpenter - presumed by his family to be missing - was found from an SOG official.
Following the allegations, the state government last week ordered a probe into the matter.
Gudoo, the assistant sub-inspector of police who was rewarded by his seniors for the shootout, and selection grade constable Farooq Ahmad Paddar were arrested Saturday on the charge of killing a civilian. A senior police officer and his deputy were removed from duty.
Moreover, Ganderbal police chief H.R. Parihar and Bahadur Ram, the deputy superintendent in charge of the special operations group -, were removed from duty.
According to Gudoo's confession, most of his victims were buried in a graveyard in Batmohalla village of Sumbal sub-district in Baramulla district, 34 km from here, with gravestones describing them as foreign guerrillas.
The grave of Abdul Rehman Paddar, a resident of south Kashmir whom Gudoo allegedly killed as a commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit, also lies in the same graveyard and his gravestone says it belongs to 'Abu Hafiz of Multan -'.
Meanwhile, the investigators have discovered three more police complaints of missing people whose disappearances are reportedly linked to the police team that is facing the probe.
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