Srinagar:
After an internal inquiry, the Border Security Force has been forced to admit that one if its men shot a teenager in Srinagar in cold blood.
Sixteen-year-old Zahid Farooq was shot dead last Friday when he jeered at a passing convoy of the BSF. Huge protests followed in the Valley.
Sources have told NDTV that at first, the BSF flatly denied that any role in the killing, but were forced to admit what happened under pressure from Home Minister P Chidambaram, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. The police also said it had enough evidence against the BSF.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who had raised the issue of Zahid's killing with the Centre, said, "We will try to make a watertight case on this." He said he's hoping for the "harshest" punishment.
Zahid and his friends were on their way home after their cricket game in Srinagar's Nishat area was rained out. They came across three BSF vehicles and began shouting at it. Incensed, Constable Lakhvinder Kumar allegedly got out and shot Zahid at point blank range.
The police has registered a case of murder but their real investigation will focus on whether the constable fired on his own or took orders from his commandment. NDTV has learnt that the Commanding Officer of the 68th Battalion of the BSF concealed the incident for five days until an internal probe was ordered because of the relentless protests. (
Read & Watch: Kashmir on the boil over youth's killing)
Asked why the BSF had initially denied involvement in the case, Special Director General PPS Sidhu said, "We had no information till yesterday about the involvement of the jawan. As soon as we received the information, the inquiry was ordered and we have zeroed in on the constable."
But Zahid's family, like other residents of Srinagar, doesn't accept this version of events.
"We are not satisfied with the arrest of the constable as the eye-witnesses told us that an officer of the force actually shot Zahid in the chest on Friday after snatching the rifle from one of the jawans," Farooq Ahmad, Zahid's father, said. "Let the BSF unmask the jawan and bring him as well as the officer before the witnesses so that the real culprit is brought to book," he added.
(With PTI inputs)