The Jammu and Kashmir police on Wednesday produced the challan against seven accused cops in the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Srinagar for their involvement in the murder of the south Kashmir carpenter, Abdul Rehman Paddroo.
The carpenter had been reported missing from the Batmaloo area of summer capital Srinagar on December 8, last year, a day before he was allegedly killed in a stage-managed encounter after being framed as a foreign militant by the personnel of the special operations group of Ganderbal police district.
The grave in north Kashmir Sumbal village where he had been buried as Abu Hafiz of Multan, Pakistan was opened and the exhumed remains sent for DNA matching with the samples of Rehman's kin to the Central Forensic Science Lab, Chandigrah.
The DNA test report received from CFSL last week had shown positive results proving Rehman's identity and disproving the claim that he had been a foreign militant.
The seven accused cops include H R Parihar, former senior superintendent of police Ganderbal, deputy superintendent of police, Bahadur Ram, assistant sub-inspector, Farooq Ahmad Gudoo, selection grade constable, Farooq Ahmad Paddar, constables Manzoor Ahmad, Zaheer Abbas and Bansi Lal.
"We have challaned these persons for the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Abdul Rehman Paddroo, resident of south Kashmir Larnoo village. We have charged the accused with Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), section 302 (murder), section 364 (kidnapping) and section 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Ranbir Penal Code," Farooq Ahmad, deputy inspector general of police heading the probe into the fake encounters racket told this correspondent.
The accused were presented in the court of M Y Akhoon, chief judicial magistrate Srinagar amid tight security.
Besides a large number of media persons and lawyers who had gathered in the court premises because of the huge public interest in the case, the family members of Abdul Rehman Paddroo including his wife, Muneera and father, Gulam Rasool Paddar were also present in the court today.
Paddar's wife, Muneera while expressing satisfaction over the investigations by the police, whom she credited for bringing those responsible for her husband's murder to the book, sought exemplary punishment for the guilty.