SIT for custody of shunted BSF commandant, 13 other personnel

A Special Investigation Team has demanded custody of senior BSF officer RK Birdi and 13 other personnel of the paramilitary force after a teenager was killed in a firing by them, triggering massive protests here.
    
The SIT is probing the incident in which 16-year-old Zahid Farooq Shah was shot by constable Lakhvinder Kumar on February 5 at Brain-Nishat here.

Birdi has been shunted out from his battalion and moved to the headquarters in Sanatnagar after allegations by Kumar that he was "forced" to open fire at the teenager by the Commandant.
    
A formal letter seeking their custody has been sent to BSF authorities by the SIT, police sources said today.
    
They said the SIT headed by SSP Srinagar Javid Reyaz Bedar felt the need to seek the custody of all the 14 BSF men to bring out the facts.

While Birdi has been shunted and Kumar suspended, the 12 other BSF personnel have been moved out to separate locations of the force to prevent them from influencing the inquiry headed by IG BSF (North-East) Ramesh Singh.

BSF has already handed over Kumar to police after internal inquiry prima facie found him involved in the boy's killing. He was sent to eight-day police remand by the Court of chief judicial magistrate Srinagar on February 11.

Shah's killing was strongly protested by the local people who forced a strike for almost a week demanding action against the guilty. Shops, business establishments, banks, courts and private offices remained closed and vehicles were off the roads for six days.