Srinagar: The Northern Command chief on Monday confirmed that life sentence has been awarded to six army men including two officers by a court-martial in 2010 Machil fake encounter case.
The seven army personnel were convicted for the killing of three Kashmiri youth in a staged encounter in Machil area near the Line of Control in Kupwara district.
The soldiers with the promise of money and jobs lured the youth, Shehzad Ahmed, Muhammad Shaffi and Reyaz Ahmed, from their homes in Nadihal village of Baramulla district but then shot them dead near the de-facto border with Pakistan.
All the soldiers and officers involved were found guilty of conspiracy, murder and falsely describing the slain men as terrorists.
On April 30, 2010, Army said it had killed three terrorists in the Machil sector and claimed that they were heavily armed Pakistanis who had just sneaked into Jammu and Kashmir to carry out terror strikes.
However, Police and Army investigations spread over three years revealed that the trio was lured to relocate to the de facto border after being promised that they would be provided with jobs in the Army. As per the findings, Major Upinder of 4 Rajput Battalion entered into a criminal conspiracy with Abbas Hussein, a resident of Kamalkote village in Uri area near the LoC and a soldier of 161 Battalion of Territorial Army, whom he knew from his days with the Army intelligence apparently with a view to win medals and awards.
