Says 3 Of Them Identified, One Of Their Associates Arrested
Srinagar, Mar 14 (GNS): Police on Tuesday said that the army soldier, whose body was found last week, was abducted and killed by militants in the central Kashmir’s Budgam district .
On March 7 afternoon, 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 Khag.
“Case of death of soldier Sameer Ahmad Malla of Khag Budgam turned to be (militant) act of abduction & murder. 01 Militant associate of LeT militant outfit involved in the crime arrested,” Inspector General of Police Kashmir Zone Vijay Kumar said in a tweet, “adding, “Other 03 LeT militants involved also identified and shall soon be dealt under law.”
While “no mark of firearm injury” were found on the soldier’s body, the Inspector General of Police last week said investigators were looking into “both aspects, (militant) crime & murder.”
Police in a statement issued later in the evening 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 (militants) of 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 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 said in the statement to GNS, adding, “After killing the Army Jawan, Sheikh got the shovel from his house which was used to bury the dead body. The shovel was also recovered by the investigating team. Further investigation into the case is vigorously going on.”
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)
