NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered two fresh cases in Manipur encounters, with an
Army Major named in one of the FIRs for killing a 12-year-old boy in March 4, 2009.
This is the first such case out of 29 FIRs registered by
CBI so far.
Major Vijay Singh Balhara, then attached with Assam Rifles, along with seven other uniformed personnel, has been named as accused in the killing of the boy.
The case was termed “fake encounter” by the Supreme Court-appointed commission led by retired Justice Santosh Hegde.
The boy, a student of Class VII in Phoubakchao High School with no criminal antecedents, was allegedly picked up from his home before being killed, the Commission had stated.
An FIR was registered nearly two months before the alleged encounter under sections of attempt to murder, arms act and other stringent charges.
“According to the security forces' evidence, the deceased was suspected to be a member of the Peoples United Liberation Front (PULF),” it said, adding that PULF was not a banned organisation, according to Manipur government.
The boy's family had said that he and his friend were reading newspaper in the verandah of his home where his parents and relatives were present.
At 11.50 am, about 30 security personnel came to the house and dragged Azad to a nearby field where he was severely beaten up amid protests from parents, the Commission added.
Parents, relatives and friends of Azad were locked in a room by the security forces but they could see through the window that after being beaten up, he was shot by one of the commandos and a pistol was thrown near the body, it said.
The version of family members was supported by relatives, it said.
The police had claimed that it got input of terrorists' movement in Azad’s village to extort money from people.
When they reached, they found two persons running through bamboo groves firing at them. An encounter ensued for five minutes after which body of the boy was found and a 9 mm Smith and Wesson pistol was recovered, it said.
After hearing the deposition of Major Balhara, who led the operation, the commission noted that there was “serious contradiction” in his statement with that of other witnesses.
The commission noted that forces knew exactly where deceased was as they directly went to his home.
In the second FIR registered on Tuesday, CBI has named some police officers.
In July last year, the Supreme Court had handed over 41 cases of fake encounters to the CBI in which 86 people were killed by security forces.
