Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir police Friday said that technical verification of the slain trio has revealed that two among the three killed were “radically inclined and were Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit now The Resistance Front (TRF).”
In a statement issued to the press, the police spokesperson said that Srinagar “gunfight” started with army inputs and eventually fructified into a joint operation of Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and police.
“After the cordon was laid, militants lobbed grenade from inside and fired upon the search party. Although as per SOP, militants were repeatedly appealed by the troops to surrender in the evening and again in the morning. However, instead of surrendering, they fired upon troops and eventually got neutralized in a fire-fight,” the statement said.
“In so far as claims of the parents that Aijaz Maqbool Ganai went to the University to fill up form is concerned. The same was verified and cross checked through the modern techniques including records of telecom department. Contrary to the claims, the verified digital evidence revealed and corroborated that Aijaz and Ather had gone to Hyderpora and from there to the place of occurrence only.”
The statement further said that similarly, Zubair had gone first to Pulwama, then Anantnag, then Shopian to Pulwama and finally came to place of occurrence.
“Background check also reveals that Aijaz and Ather Mushtaq, both OGWs variously provided logistic support to militants. Antecedents and verifications to show that both were radically inclined and had aided LeT (now so-called TRF) outfit, militants,” the statement said.
It said that one of OGW presently under police custody has also corroborated Aijaz’s association with LeT militant Faisal Mustaq Baba who was killed in Meej (Pampore) gunfight in June last year. Pertinently, Ather was relative and OGW of Hizbul Mujahideen top commander Rayees Kachroo who got killed in the year 2017.
“Nevertheless police is investigating into the case from all possible angles,” the statement concluded.
