Probe fake encounters: Muslim Leader

New Delhi, May 24 (UNI) Muslim leaders today called for a high-powered investigation, to be headed by a Supreme Court judge, into incidents of ''fake encounters''.

In a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari, Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, also demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the police firing on worshipers at Makkah Masjid in Hyderabad last week.

The memorandum was signed by nine others, including Jamat-e-Islami Hind Assistant Secretary Intizar Naeem and All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat General Secretary Maulana Amiduz-Zaman Kairanvi.

The memorandum also demanded a grant of Rs 10 lakh and government jobs to next of kin of the deceased.

It said incidents of fake encounters in different parts of the country have increased and the involvement of police and army officers in Kashmir, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh already established.

It called for a ''powerful commission headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to look into these incidents''.

UNI