The Army has said the man who was beaten up by mob on suspicion that he had made an assassination bid on hardline Hurriyat faction chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani during a rally here was actually a member of its "covert team".
"An Army man was beaten up by mob due to mistaken identity (in the public rally addressed by Geelani yesterday). His service pistol, identity card and mobile were snatched by them," a defence spokesman said here in a statement issued late last night.
A "covert team" of Army and state police was sent to Sopore, 55 km from here, to gather information on the presence of "terrorists" in the public rally, he said.
Hardline Hurriyat faction had yesterday claimed an assassination attempt was made on Geelani by a man carrying a pistol who was nabbed by people at the rally.
"The man was nabbed when he was asked to show his identity card at the rally... Why would a man come to a rally with a pistol. It could possibly have been an attempt to target Geelani," Hurriyat spokesman Ayaz Akbar had said.
No comments:
Post a Comment