SRINAGAR: The Army on Monday said it has no scheme of rewarding personnel with Rs 10 lakh for killing a terrorist, as was mentioned in media reports on the Amshipora “fake encounter” case. The reports had quoted the 300-page chargesheet filed by the special investigation team (SIT) of the J&K, submitted before the chief judicial magistrate of Shopian district on December 28.
“It is clarified that the Army has no system of cash awards for its personnel for any acts of combat situations or otherwise in the line of duty. The report is mala fide (misleading) and not based on facts of the processes internal to Army,” Colonel Kalia said.
The news reports said that, as per the J&K Police SIT’s chargesheet, Captain Bhoopendra Singh of 62 RR regiment, aided by two civilian informers, had “staged” the encounter in Amshipora on July 8, 2020, and killed three daily wage labourers working in local orchards, allegedly to claim a cash bounty of Rs 20 lakh granted by the Army as a reward for killing terrorists.
The chargesheet also mentioned that Singh’s informers Tabish Nazir, a resident of Shopian, and Bilal Ahmad Lone, who lives in Pulwama, were given a “few thousand” rupees, for assisting in organizing the ‘fake’ encounter. Lone has turned an approver and recorded his confession statement before a magistrate.