Army begins probe into youth's killing in Baramulla

, March 7: The Army on Thursday began the

into the killing of a youth in Baramulla district of north Kashmir and asked

police to identify civilian witnesses in the case. The Court of Inquiry (CoI), headed by a Brigadier, was constituted to probe the circumstances in which Tahir Latief Sofi was killed on March five, official sources said.

Lt Gen K T Parnaik, GoC-in-C, while expressing deep sorrow and regret over the loss of precious life in Baramulla, had ordered a time-bound inquiry into the incident. The Court of Inquiry will be examining the personnel and officers of 46 Rashtriya Rifles battalion of the Army besides the police and para-military personnel present at the spot when the incident had taken place. The Army has also requested the state police to help identify civilian witnesses who could depose before the CoI, the sources said.

Police has also lodged an FIR in the case and is conducting a probe into the incident that took place on March five when hundreds of residents of Baramulla town took to the streets to protest alleged ransacking of their houses by the army in the area. The protesters had pelted stones at the army personnel who allegedly opened fire to disperse them. Five persons were injured in the firing, of whom 25-year-old Sofi later succumbed to injuries.

PTI