Jammu:
The Army has closed an investigation against its personnel accused of killing five civilians in a fake encounter in Pathribal, Jammu and Kashmir, in 2000, saying there is no evidence against them. The decision has been slammed by the state's Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who has asked his government to explore a legal response.
"The evidence recorded could not establish a prime facie case against any of the accused persons. However, it was clearly established that it was a joint operation by the police and the Army based on specific intelligence," the Army said in a statement on Thursday.
Omar Abdullah said he was "extremely disappointed" and the army needed to take a "long, hard look at the signal they want to send out in Kashmir."
He had tweeted earlier, "A matter as serious as Pathribal can't be closed or wished away like this, more so with the findings of the CBI so self-evident."
Five people were killed in a shootout at Pathribal in south Kashmir on March 26, 2000. The army had claimed that those shot dead were militants, but when their bodies were exhumed after massive outrage and protests, they were identified as innocent civilians.
The CBI probed the case and in 2006, alleged that five officials and jawans of the Seven Rashtriya Rifles - Brig Ajay Saxena, Lt Col Brahendra Pratap Singh, Major Saurabh Sharma, Major Amit Saxena and Subedar Idrees Khan - killed five civilians just to show better results.
The Army had claimed that those killed were mercenaries who massacred 35 members of the Sikh community at Chittisinghpora in south Kashmir in 2000, while then US President Bill Clinton was on a visit to India.
The 18-page CBI charge-sheet said after the Chittinsinghpora killings, the Army unit based in the area was under "tremendous psychological pressure to show results."
After an order from the Supreme Court in March, 2012, based on the CBI probe, the Army had taken over the case.