Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Monday maintained that the three persons killed in an encounter in Srinagar city's Lawaypora area had terrorist connections, and refuted the claims of the family members of one of those killed that he had gone to the university to fill a form.
Inspector-General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said that the three youth killed in Lawaypora encounter were 'militants' and asserted that the police would produce 'concrete evidence' in the next 10 days.
The police said after a cordon was laid, terrorists lobbed grenades from inside and fired at the search party. Police said as per the SOP, the terrorists were repeatedly asked by the troops to surrender in the evening and again in the morning. However, instead of surrendering, they fired upon the troops and eventually got neutralised in the gunfight.
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While speaking about the militants killed during the encounter, Kumar said, "We have gathered around 60 per cent of the evidence and rest will be completed in the next few days. The evidence will be shown to the families of the militants and proven that their children were involved in militancy."
When asked about the bodies of the trio not being handed over to the families, Kumar quoted Covid-19 protocol as the reason.
"We are not handing over the bodies to the kin because of the pandemic. We fear that people will assemble for the funerals which is a risk and against the Covid-19 protocol," he said.
Also Read: Three militants killed in Srinagar gunfight are innocents, claim families
Three youths - Aejaz Ganai from Pulwama, Zubair Lone from Shopian and Athar Mushtaq from Pulwama - were killed in an encounter at Lawaypora in Srinagar on December 30.
The families, however, rejected the police claims and said their children were innocent and not involved in militant activities. The families of the three youths protested several times in Srinagar and demanded that the bodies of their children be returned to them.
