Capt Kohli shoot-out, porters’ fake encounter killings

Officer’s family demands independent probe KT NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI/JAMMU, Aug 28: The mother of Shaurya Chakra awardee Captain Sumit Kohli, who died in a mysterious shootout in Kupwara area of Kashmir valley in 2006, today met Defence Minister A K Antony and demanded that the Army's claim that her son committed suicide be investigated.

The case is also linked to the killing of four porters picked up by the army from R.S.

Pura in a fake encounter.

Veena Kohli said he she had told Antony that she suspects her son was murdered by Army officers.

The enemy lies within and demanded an independent probe, possibly by CBI, into his death.

Captain Kohli, who served with the 18 Rashtriya Rifles, was found dead with gunshot wounds in his room at the military barracks in Lolab, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 30, 2006 two months after being decorated with Shaurya Chakra, the country's third highest peace time gallantry medal.

However, Col Rahul Pandey, who was the then commanding officer of Capt Kohli's unit 16 Rashtriya Rifles, refuted the mother's contention and maintained that it was a case of suicide.

Veena alleged that Captain Kohli was killed because he knew who were behind the killing of four porters in a fake encounter in Lolab in April 2004.

She claimed her son had assured the families of the porters that he would help them get justice.

Veena Kohli submitted a representation to Antony urging him to order a probe, independent of Army control, to get to the bottom of the truth over the death of her son, who was a Shaurya Chakra winner.

"Yes, I will seek a CBI probe as I do not have trust in the Army's investigation anymore, as they have tried to hide the truth and have tarnished my brave son's image," Veena told reporters answering queries in this regard.

Veena, who was accompanied by her daughter Namrata and her advocate Guneep Chaudhary in her meeting with Antony, alleged that the Army had tarnished her son's image by claiming that he committed suicide because of personal reasons.

Capt Kohli was found dead with gunshot wounds at his room in military residential facility on Lolab in April 2006 while he was serving in 16 Rashtriya Rifles in Kashmir.

Captain Kohli's father suffered a stroke and died a day after his son's cremation.

Veena claimed that she tried to seek information and documents like the post-mortem report relating to her son's death but the army refused her.

Demanding access to original documents related to her son's death, Veena Kohli said, "it should be found out how he died.

I had earlier thought that whatever Army was saying was correct, but I want his post-mortem report so that I can be fully satisfied.

I can't believe he had committed suicide." Col Pandey, responding to her charges, said the death was a suicide and that there were Army procedures under which civilian doctors conducted post-mortem and submitted report to the higher-ups in the Army.

"After the documents reach the higher-ups in the Army hierarchy, it does not return to the unit.

I never knew she had any suspicion over the officer's death.

If she had called me or written to me earlier, I could have got the documents for her," he said.

Asked what was the basis of her suspicion Veena Kohli said, "he was a Shaurya Chakra awardee and a brave officer.

He could not have done this." Alleging that some Army personnel were behind her son's death, Kohli said, "I will not blame the whole Army for this, but there are some people who got him out of their way as he knew everything happening inside.

This incident happened on the last day of his posting in Lolab valley in Kashmir." After the Army claimed that the young officer had committed suicide, the family had made several attempts to seek information and documents such as post-mortem report relating to his death.

Her efforts to get the Army to part with information through the Right to Information Act too failed after the Army headquarters took the plea that the law did not apply to Jammu and Kashmir.

She moved the Delhi High Court, which ordered the Army to supply Capt Kohli's death-related documents.

"We met the Defence Minister for about 15-20 minutes and sought an independent inquiry into my brother's death and he has assured us of an independent probe," Namrata said, adding that the family had urged Antony to restore the honour of Sumit, who had won a medal for gallantry in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Her advocate said on perusal of the documents there was suspicion about the circumstances of Captain Kohli's death including contradiction in the autopsy and medical reports.

"We have submitted copy of these documents also to the Defence Minister, who heard us patiently and assured to get re-investigated the death of the young officer," Chaudhary said.

However, in Jammu, the family members of four porters, who were allegedly killed in a fake army encounter in Kupwara district in April 2004, are not only grappling with grief, they are virtually clueless about how to proceed with their case.

The families of these missing porters informed that Ram Lal of Lalyal along with three other labourers, Satpal of village Chatha, Bushan Lal of Mangu Chack near Jammu and Ashok Kumar of Pathankot (Punjab), were persuaded to work as porters by some army men who promised them to pay Rs 6000 per month on April 12, 2004.

They did not know what the fate had in its hand for them and were gunned down in Kupwara posing them as ’Pakistani militants’.

Later, they received an anonymous letter by a soldier of 18 Rashtriya Rifles about the death of four of them a year after they were taken by the army, the family added.

In June 2005, the family received an anonymous letter in Hindi informing them that they have been killed by troops in a fake encounter in Kashmir’s frontier district of Kupwara.

The letter was signed by " Aap ka sainik, insaniyat ka pujari (Your soldier, a believer in humanity)".

The anonymous letter named "Major Vijay Chahar" and "Colonel Rahul Pandey" as being the main accused and said the operation was led by Major Chahar, and that the others involved in the encounter were Naik Jai Singh, and Riflemen Dilip, Jasvir, Adesh Kumar and Madroop Dhaka", all from 18 Rashtriya Rifles and posted in Lolab area of Kupwara.

The Army, immediately after a newspaper reported the content of the anonymous letter, ordered a probe into the alleged fake encounter.

The probe report has never been made public.

The bodies of the slain men were not exhumed yet in the presence of their families and no compensation has been given to the aggrieved families.

Similar anonymous letters also landed in the home of Capt Kohli, soon after his mysterious death.

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