7 Army men get life in fake encounter case

Sources in an Army unit confirmed this on Sunday and said Major General AK Lal, Colonel Thomas Mathew, Colonel RS Sibiren, Captain Dilip Singh, Captain Jagdeo Singh, Naik Albindar Singh and Naik Shivendar Singh have been awarded life imprisonment for their involvement in a fake encounter case in Assam’s Tinsukia district in 1994.

Assam former minister Jagadish Bhuyan said nine youth were picked up by the Army from different areas of the district on February 18, 1994, on suspicion that they were involved in the killing of a top tea garden executive. 

The soldiers killed five of the youth in a fake encounter, branding them as ULFA militants. Bhuyan filed a Habeas Corpus petition in the Gauhati HC the same year, seeking the whereabouts of the youth. The court asked the Army to produce the nine AASU leaders at the nearest police station. The Army produced five bodies at the Dholla Police Station.