Suspended by the Omar Abdullah Government in the aftermath of the Shopian rape-cum-murder case in June 2009, a Kashmir Police Service (KPS) officer Javed Iqbal Matoo, currently posted as SP Ramban, is once again in the news for making false claims to mislead the probe in the Ramban firing incident, where four civilians were killed and over 40 others injured on July 18.
A day after the incident, Matoo claimed in an interview that BSF suddenly opened indiscriminate firing on the protesters gathered outside the BSF camp. “I too would have been killed had my colleague not dragged me out,” he said.
The protesters were agitated over the alleged incident of manhandling of local religious leader by the BSF patrol party in Gool area of Ramban.
The senior police officer, who failed to assess the gravity of the situation and did not mobilise adequate force to deal with it, was previously suspended along with four others in the Shopian case. He was later arrested on the direction of the J&K High Court after the Muzaffar Jan Commission held the police responsible for “destroying evidence”.
The commission also said the “needle of suspicion” pointed towards their involvement in the crime. The officer was posted in Ramban in June 2013 after his posting as district police chief in Kargil.
Matoo’s attack on BSF created flutter in the corridors of power and exposed the State police of passing the buck. The BSF is also upset with the police making the ‘trouble maker’ their key eyewitness.
Contrary to the statement of the Ramban SP, several eyewitnesses claimed before the media and BSF officers that a police officer incharge of Sangaldhan police post, Mohd Afzal Wani, first opened fire on a political science teacher from the BSF camp. This led to violent protests that resulted in killing of three others by the security forces. Some of the eyewitnesses, according to highly placed sources, have even seen the said police officer climbing the BSF security picket inside the camp before opening fire on the local schoolteacher from his service revolver.
The BSF, for the time being is not commenting on the claims of the district police officer, but is maintaining that their jawans fired in self defence when the angry mob tried to storm into the camp and loot arms and ammunition. “We are awaiting outcome of the high-level probe conducted by the Special DG ,BSF,” BSF officers in Jammu told The Pioneer.
According to official sources, BSF Special DG Dilip Trivedi, during his visit to Gool area of Ramban is learnt to have gathered photographic evidence/video clippings of the attack on the BSF camp by the angry protesters and is scheduled to submit his report to Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
Sources said Trivedi recorded statements of BSF officers present in Gool on the day of the incident, large number of local villagers, policemen, local and civil authorities, eyewitnesses and others ahead of preparing a comprehensive report on the circumstances leading to the incident.