Gauhati HC orders SIT probe into 'fake encounter' by army intel unit
Source: The Sangai Express / Agencies
New Delhi, December 24 2017:
A 2010 'fake encounter', in which three Manipuri men were allegedly killed by officers of a Nagaland-based army intelligence unit, has come back to haunt the security force as the Gauhati high court ordered further probe in the case .
Directing the Nagaland government to set up a Special investigation Team (SIT) headed by an officer above the rank of superintendent of police, the court said: "Considering the unsatisfactory manner of investigation carried out by the police we feel that the case needs to be further investigated and for this pur- pose, investigation should be conducted or handled by higher functionaries of the state" .
The high court also said that the army will provide assistance to the SIT in the case.
Slamming the earlier probe by the Nagaland police as 'extremely shoddy and perfunctory', the high court said the SIT will take the investigation to its 'logical end' and submit a report in the court within two months.
The court order comes on a 2014 petition filed by Phijam Manikumar, the brother of one of the deceased .
In his plea, Manikumar claimed that the three men were abducted by the intelligence unit of 3 Corps from Nagaland's Dimapur and that their bodies bore torture marks .
Manikumar also cited letters purportedly written by Major T Ravi Kiran of the same intelligence unit to higher authorities, accusing army officers of staging the killing .
Major Kiran had allegedly written a letter dated 12.03.2010 to the army's higher authorities complaining that three Manipuri men were abducted and brought to their unit on March 10, 2010 where they were tortured and shot dead behind the unit mess .
The Major, in the letters, also reportedly said that Colonel G Shreekumar orchestrated the abduction and killing and was assisted by Major Rubeena Kaur Keer and Major Nector .
The army, however, dismissed Major Kiran's allegations and claimed that none of its personnel were involved in the alleged fake encounter.