For the third time, a local court Monday extended the police remand of Territorial Army trooper, accused for disappearance of three villagers in frontier district Kupwara, till December 19 and asked police to expedite the investigation.The accused, Manzoor Ahmad Khawaja, was produced before Judicial Magistrate Kupwara and police made submission to the court for extension of his remand. Chief Prosecuting Officer (CPO) Kupwara, Ashiq Hussain, sought more time for the investigation and submitted for extension of police remand.Pertinently, the family members of the missing persons had filed a petition in the Judicial Magistrate Court Kupwara in which they said that the whereabouts of Ghulam Jeelani Khatana and Mir Hussain Khatana - residents of Dardepora Kupwara, and Ali Muhammad Sheikh of Trehgam Kupwara were missing since November 17 after they were taken along by Manzoor Ahmad Khoja of 160 TA Battalion.
Meanwhile, DIG Police for North Kashmir Range Gareeb Das told CNS that the accused has confessed before the police that he had met the trio, however the accused according to Das has been claiming that after meeting them, he doesn’t know where they left for. “There is a tangible progress in the case and all efforts are on to trace the missing persons,” he said.“The claim made by the family members that the missing persons had gone with the accused Manzoor is true as the accused has confirmed this, but at the same time Manzoor is claiming that he doesn’t know where they went after meeting them,” he said and added that a team has already been constituted to trace these missing persons. (CNS)