Kajalgaon (Chirang), June 15: The magistrate probing the March 30 encounter case has recorded the statements of all security agencies involved in the operation, except the army, which is awaiting "official clearance" to appear before him.

Chirang sub-divisional officer (Sadar) Jayanta Sarkar told The Telegraph that the CRPF, its Cobra unit, SSB and Assam police have recorded their statements.

"I have almost wrapped up my probe. Only the army statement needs to be recorded. I was told they are awaiting official clearance. I had called them (7 Sikh Light Infantry) and Assam police officials on June 6," Sarkar said.

The CRPF, its Cobra unit and SSB were called on June 2 while the public hearing was held on June 8 at the Chirang deputy commissioner's office.

The magisterial probe is a "routine" one, formally ordered on April 4, but assumed significance because a senior CRPF officer Rajnish Rai had said in a April 17 letter to his seniors that the encounter in which "NDFB (Songbijit) cadres" Lucas Narzary, 30, and David Islary, 25, were killed was "staged".

Rai, who was transferred from Shillong to Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, had called for a thorough probe in the letter, which became public on May 24.

Officer-in-charge of Amguri police station Jitesh Barman said three policemen, including him, had appeared before the magistrate. He said the deceased were "hardcore militants" and that Lucas was "trained" in Myanmar. "We have a thick dossier on them. It's a bit demoralising," he said when asked about Rai's letter.

The families of Lucas and David who attended the public hearing had said the youths were taken away by security personnel from Ranjit Basumatary's house at Dighaldong on the night of March 29. They were killed in an encounter at nearby Simlaguri the next day.

David's father Bineswar had told The Telegraph that if they (security personnel) have to "kill" then "what was the need for jails".

Ranjit's son Kharamdaw and daughter Bahaiti had said a day ahead of the public hearing that security forces took away the youths from their house and how their mother pleaded with them to spare Kharamdaw, who was sleeping in the same room.

However, Sarkar said Ranjit's wife Binu had said in her statement that the deceased were "not" taken away from her house.

She had earlier told the media that security forces took away the "unarmed" duo from her house and she "knew" Lucas from before.

Binu was the last person to have her statement recorded on June 8. Altogether six persons, including Binu, whose husband Ranjit suffered a paralytic attack soon after the incident, got their statements recorded on June 8 between 2pm to 5pm, Sarkar said.

Her official statement is significant because the others had only "heard" about the duo being killed by security forces.