Anantnag: On July 25, Jammu and Kashmir police had claimed to have neutralised a local militant, identified as Imran Qayoom Dar during a gunfight at south Kashmir's Kulgam district. However, on Monday, Imran's family alleged that he was killed in a 'fake gunfight'. The family has also written to the District Magistrate in Anantnag 'appealing' for a probe into his killing. Dar's father Abdul Qayoom Dar, a resident of Batengoo village in Anantnag district, claims that he identified his son from a photograph of a body shown to them after the alleged gunfight had ended.
In a letter to Deputy Commissioner Anantnag Piyush Singla, Imran's father said that he received a call at 8 am on Sunday from the village’s sarpanch who told him that the police demanded that he present himself along with his son at the police post in Khanabal. "After some time, I received one more call from the police post-Khanabal itself and they too informed me of the same," Dar said in the letter, which had been marked to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha and Senior Superintendent of Police Anantnag Imtiyaz Hussain.
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"I took the matter lightly as I couldn’t think in my wildest dreams that anything terrible would happen. About 4 pm I reached police post-Khanabal where they showed me the photograph of my son’s dead body." Dar mentioned in the letter, saying that he was "in a deep state of shock to see the photograph of his dead son."
"I contacted the DO (Duty Officer) concerned and DYSP (Deputy Superintendent of Police) Ashiq who assured that you can collect the body of your son from PCR (Police Control Room) Srinagar which is lying there,” Dar stated. Following the assurance, he left along with his family to PCR only to be told that the body had been dispatched to a graveyard in north Kashmir's Handwara area for burial.
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"I request your good self kindly look into the matter personally and help the family to retrieve his dead body and an FIR should be lodged to investigate the matter properly so that justice is delivered as we are a law-abiding family. My son was not involved in militancy-related activities nor any member of our family supported any anti-national activities ever. My son was a civilian… moving freely like any other civilian,” Dar said, claiming that he had met his son last at a petrol pump at 6 pm on Saturday, near their house.
When ETV Bharat contacted DC Anantnag Singla, he said, "I have sought a report from the police regarding the matter and have also given assurance to the family while I met them today". ETV Bharat also tried to contact the Senior Superintendent of Police Anantnag and Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Zone), however, no response has been received so far.
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