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Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 30, 2004

National

National

Army officer concedes encounters were fake

JODHPUR, MAY 29. The Commanding Officer of the Gorkha battalion, Col. K. D. Singh, today conceded before a military court here that the encounters in the Siachen Glacier region last year claimed by the then Commanding Officer on Line of Control, Maj. Surinder Singh were ``fake.''

Two video cassettes submitted by Maj. Singh, along with the situation reports in August last year were ``stage-managed,'' Col. Singh said continuing his deposition for the third consecutive day in the first- ever Army open trial, before the court headed by Brig. Philip Campose. ``In the first instance, I found nothing wrong in the video cassettes but after closely observing the video clips I doubted the authenticity of the incidents shown in them and sought clarification from Maj. Singh on phone,'' he said.

``Not only Maj. Singh insisted that the said encounters were real but also others involved in the "fake encounter supported him initially,'' Col. Singh said.

However, rifleman Shyam Bahadur Thapa later spilled the beans by conceding that he had created the fake bunker for the video shoot, he said. This was also conceded later by others involved in the incidents saying they had been made to keep a vow in the name of god that they would not reveal the "fake operation,'' Col. Singh said.

The Colonel said he also found that the video camera used in the shoot of the fake encounter could not zoom into the target 800 feet away as claimed by Maj. Singh.

He said the behaviour of Maj. Singh with his subordinates was also not good as he is a ``foul-mouthed'' officer.

PTI

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