Srinagar: Nearly three and a half months after the lynching of Deputy SP Ayub Pandith at the premises of Jamia Masjid here, police on Friday filed chargesheet against 24 accused including a young militant Sajad Ahmad Gilkar who was killed in an encounter with government forces on June 12 this year.
According to a police officer, 23 accused have been arrested and three of them include juveniles who are present at large on bail. “One of the accused, Sajad Ahmad Gilkar, was killed in an encounter in Radbugh village of Budgam on July 12. His name has been mentioned in the charge-sheet,” he said.
All the accused have been charged under sections 302, 148, 149, 341 RPC and 13 Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The case was not yet closed and there could be more arrests. “if we get more accused or evidence regarding the case, we will produce supplementary charge sheet,” the police officer said.
The police said that they initially arrested those who were injured in firing by the DSP. “The arrested persons revealed more clues about the culprits,” the officer said.
IGP Kashmir Munir Khan had said that Pandith was in Jamia Masjid to protect locals and Hurriyat Conference leader Molvi Umar Farooq.
Giving the sequence of events, Khan had said that a group of youths raising pro-Zakir Musa slogans outside Jamia Masjid on Shab-e-Qadr night started beating Pandith after he refused to reveal his identity.
On the basis of disclosures made by the accused, important evidence including the weapon of the offence (Iron rod), identity card, service pistol (in damaged condition) and the cellphone of the deceased officer were recovered. “It was encouraging to see a good response from the public and witnesses who voluntarily came forward to provide valuable information on the incident,” he had said.
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