SRINAGAR: Police today said the youth killed in an encounter in Pulwama yesterday was Hizbul Mujahideen militant as it claimed to have finally established his identity after a confusion even as the family insisted that he was not a militant.
Initially, police had said the slain person was Jehangir Ahmad Ganie, who belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit.
"The militant killed in Kawni village yesterday was identified as Muzamil Ahmad Dar of Chatterpora village of Shopian district. He was a member of Hizbul Mujahideen," Superintendent of Police, Awantipora, Irshad Ahmad told PTI.
He was killed when security forces returned fire after being attacked by militants with a grenade and gunfire during a search and cordon operation at village Kawini in Pulwama last evening.
Police had claimed to have recovered two hand grenades from the possession of the deceased.
However, there was confusion over the identity of the deceased as police initially identified him as Jehangir Ahmad Ganie of Koil village who had recently joined Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit. However, the Ganie family denied that the deceased was their son.
Later, it transpired that he was Muzamil Ahmed Dar of Shopian and his identification was done by his family.
However, his family claimed that he was not a militant but an auto-driver who had gone missing last week.
"He was not affiliated with any militant outfit," the family claimed after identifying the body of the deceased late last night.
The body of the deceased was handed over to the family and was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in Shopian amid protests by mourners who participated in his funeral.