Police report given to authorities: Army Chief on Anantnag case

With allegations of staging a fake encounter being levelled against Lt Gen Bikram Singh, Army Chief Gen V K Singh today said a police report of the incident which took place in 2001 in Anantnag has been made available to the authorities concerned.

He said inquiries in such cases are carried out by civil police and he did not have any idea about the report prepared by them.

"We have a report of that period, which has been made available to the people concerned,"  the Army Chief told reporters here.

He was asked to spell out the steps being initiated by Army after allegations of staging a fake encounter in Anantnag district of South Kashmir surfaced against Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Bikram Singh recently.

"I don't think there was an inquiry which was carried out at that time. Because in all such encounters it is left to the civil police to do the inquiry. What they did at that time, I am not aware of and I don't think any body would be aware of," he said.

Observing that the issue is sub-judice, Gen Singh refused to respond to a volley of questions on it.

"Some relatives (of the alleged militant who was killed in the encounter) have gone to the courts. The matter is sub-judice and anything for me to say, or anybody else to say, would be wrong," he said.

Lt Gen Bikram Singh, then a Brigadier, was heading the 5 Sector Rashtriya Rifles (RR) headquartered in Janglat Mandi in Anantnag when the incident took place. During the alleged fake encounter, a suspected militant Mateen Chacha, was killed.

Mateen's mother moved the Jammu and Kashmir High Court which in October last year issued notices to the Defence Ministry and the J and K government.

Lt Gen Bikram Singh is a front-runner for the post of next army chief after the incumbent Gen V K Singh retires on 31 May.

The Defence ministry has also taken cognizance of media reports on the allegations against the Eastern Army Commander and has asked a senior official to look into them.