Body of Missing Kashmiri Soldier Found After 3 Days in Central Kashmir

Srinagar: The body of soldier Sameer Ahmad Malla, who went missing three days ago from Khag area of central Kashmir’s Budgam district, has been retrieved, police officials said on Thursday.

A top Jammu and Kashmir police official said that the body of 28-year-old Sameer was found in an orchard in Budgam with no marks of a firearm injury.

“Dead body of soldier Sameer Ahmad Malla found. No mark of firearm injury found on his body. Investigation is going on. We are looking into both aspects, terror crime and murder,” IGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, said.

A police spokesperson said that an investigation was launched into the killing to find out whether Sameer was abducted from his residence and killed by militants.

Sameer, a soldier in the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (JKLI) regiment of the Indian Army, was seen by his family at their residence in Lokipora village on Monday, following which he went missing. He was currently posted in Jammu, according to his family members, and had recently travelled home on leave to attend the birth of his second child.

Sameer’s wife Rifat had made desperate pleas for the return of her husband since he went missing. Their baby is only a week old and the elder son has just turned three-year-old.

“I just gave birth to our second child and my first son is crying and asking for his father. He keeps on asking about his father,” Rifat told a local news agency. She even made a promise to make sure Sameer leaves his army job to secure his release.

The soldier, who was recruited into JKLI as a driver in 2017, is reportedly believed to have been investigated for his role in an incident that involved Major Leetul Gogoi, who was accused of fraternising with a local girl in a Srinagar hotel in 2018. Sameer was believed to have driven the two to the hotel following which the couple was flagged by the locals. The officer faced a disciplinary action and the incident caused a stir in the valley.

The hotel incident was reported a year after Major Gogoi tied a Budgam local, Farooq Ahmad Dar, a shawl weaver, to the bonnet of his jeep and paraded him through several villages in April 2017 on an election day. The use of Dar as a “human shield” to thwart protests in the area drew massive condemnation but, Major Gogoi was later awarded chief of army staff’s commendation card for sustained efforts in counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir.

Last year in September, security forces retrieved the body of 24-year-old Army jawan Shakir Manzoor from a South Kashmir orchard after a year-long search operation. Shakir was abducted from his home in Harmain village of Kulgam and later killed by suspected militants. It is, however, yet to be ascertained whether militants were behind Sameer’s killing.

Meanwhile, two militants believed to be affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit were killed on Thursday in an encounter with government forces in Naina Batapora area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district. In another incident, a suspected militant, yet to be identified, was killed by Srinagar police in Hazratbal area of Srinagar.

“One terrorist killed by Srinagar Police in Hazratbal area. Search for two others who fled from the encounter site going on,” IGP Kashmir was quoted as saying.