Captain's kin meet Antony over mysterious death

New Delhi, Aug 28: The mother of Shaurya Chakra awardee Captain Sumit Kohli, who believes that her son was murdered, met the Defence Minister AK Antony to demand an independent probe into the Captain"s death.

Veena Kohli, accompanied by her daughter Namrata and her advocate Major Guneep Chaudhary, told Mr Antony that her son was murdered at the Army residential complex in Jammu Kashmir by his fellow officers and accused the Army of sullying her son's image by stating that he committed suicide.

Speaking to a news agency about the meeting with the minister, the Captain's sister said, “We met the Defence Minister for about 15-20 minutes and sought an independent inquiry into my brother"s death and he has assured us of an independent probe."

“We have submitted copy of the documents (on Kohli's death ) also to the Defence Minister, who heard us patiently and assured to get re-investigated the death of the young officer," Chaudhary said.

The mother's tireless quest for truth

The mother of the deceased Captain, who was serving with the 18 Rashtriya Rifles, had to put up a tireless fight of four long years to get to the truth in search of justice.

Captain Kohli was found dead with gunshot wounds in his room in the military barracks in Lolab, Jammu Kashmir on Apr 30, 2006.

His death came just two months after he was awarded the Shaurya Chakra, the third highest peace time gallantry medal.

The Indian Army claimed that the Captain took his own life due to personal reasons.

The death came as such a shock to the family that his father suffered a stroke and died a day after Captain Kohli"s cremation.

Venna Kohli began her fight in 2006 itself by seeking information and documents such as post-mortem report relating to her son's death.

After her requests to the Army were turned down, the mother tried to use Right To Information (RTI). But even that effort was stuck down as the information law did not apply in Jammu and Kashmir.

She later move the Delhi High Court, which finally ordered the Army to supply related documents.

On perusal of the documents there was suspicion about the circumstances of Captain Kohli"s death including contradiction in the autopsy and medical reports.

OneIndia News