Security personnel patrol the Dal Lake in Srinagar on Tuesday; Police chief Kuldeep Khoda at the media conference. (PTI pictures)

Srinagar, Nov. 30: A National Conference MP has charged Jammu and Kashmir police with “cold-blooded murder” of three “innocent” youths that the force gunned down yesterday after the trio allegedly shot a constable dead.

Jammu and Kashmir police chief Kuldeep Khoda rushed to Srinagar from Jammu to trash the claim made by Baramulla MP Sharief-ud-din Shariq who is also said to be a relative of one of the youths, Arshad Bashir.

Khoda said the three youths killed in the Qamarwari locality in Srinagar were part of a Jaish-e-Mohammad module that was involved in the killing of two CRPF men in Pattan on November 10. Yesterday, the police said the youths opened fire and killed the constable when their bike was stopped at Qamarwari.

Shariq, whose charge of “cold-blooded” murder was printed in a local newspaper today, was unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts to contact him. His accusation found quick support in the separatist group Jamaat-e-Islami that praised him for speaking the “truth despite being a member of the Indian Parliament”.

“The incident needs to be thoroughly probed by a high-level impartial judicial commission that should find out the whole truth. This whole episode has become suspicious as the available information regarding the civilian victims points towards their innocence,” said Jamaat-e-Islami spokesperson Zahid Ali.

Mehbooba Mufti, the chief of the Opposition PDP, too raised her brows on the encounter. “This is another attempt to tarnish the image of Kashmir. Even some of the leaders of the ruling party have raised questions over yesterday’s so-called encounter in Srinagar city,” she said.

Khoda retaliated on Shariq’s comment against his force by saying: “We cannot control the imagination and imaginary whims of anybody.”

The police chief said the three militants had been identified as Sopore residents Waseem Raja Guru and Arshid Bashir, and Zahoor Ahmad Hajam of Bandipora. “They were working as a Jaish module which was headed by Waseem Raja Guru and the rented accommodation of Arshid Bashir was used as a hideout,” Khoda said.

He added that Guru had trained as a militant across border in 1991 and returned in 1994. “He was a battalion commander of the Jaish outfit in Sopore. He was associated with Shoaib alias Yasir, a Pakistani Jaish commander. He was arrested and booked under the Public Safety Act in 2007 and released in 2008. He has been active again since 2008. He was classified as a category A Jaish militant in 2009,” Khoda said.

The second youth, 30-year-old Hajam, was a locally trained militant affiliated to al Badar who also went by the names Tanveer and Imran. “He was arrested on August 2004 in Bandipora. He was booked also under the Public Safety Act for one and half years in 2004. The militant, a graduate, briefly worked as a teacher and had quit his job two months back. He was also found involved in instigating public protests in 2008, the police chief said.

Bashir, a student of the Degree College Bemina, had close links with terrorist organisations and his house was raided in 2009 by the police and the army who were looking for Jaish militants. “He had developed links with Guru in 2008-2009,” Khoda said.