Srinagar: The CBI on Thursday filed chargesheets in the Pathribal fake encounter case against five Army officials accused of killing five innocent civilians terming them as terrorists involved in the Chattisinghpora massacre of 2000.
The five army officials facing the chargesheet are Brigadier Ajay Saxena, Lt Col B P Singh, Major Saurabh Sharma, Major Amit Saxena and Junior Commissioned Officer Adrees Khan.
Investigating officer Ashok Kalra submitted the chargesheets before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Mohammad Yousuf Khan.
The officials were charged on various counts of the Indian Penal Code for murder, abduction with intention to murder, wrongful confinement, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence.
The case took a politically sensitive turn when Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed suspended former SSP Farooq Khan on the grounds that he was involved in the encounter.
A judicial probe had been set up which found Khan guilty.
However, Jammu and Kashmir High Court rejected the inquiry report, absolving Khan of all charges.
The CBI did not find Khan guilty either.
The CJM has fixed May 24 for next hearing, when the Army is expected to respond to whether it would initiate court martial proceedings against the officers or it preferred that the
officers be tried by a civil court.
The CBI, which was handed over the case in January 2003,had alleged that the officials and jawans of seven Rashtriya Rifles had staged a fake encounter to kill the civilians suspecting them to be involved in the carnage of Sikhs in Chattisinghpora on March 20, 2000.
This occured when the then US President Bill Clinton was in New Delhi as part of his visit to India.
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