Court orders reprobe into Major Gogoi's hotel fracas

Trouble is mounting on Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi of 53 Rashtriya Rifles after a court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Srinagar Aijaz Ahmad Khan ordered reinvestigation into the hotel fracas case.

The court also directed the police to probe the role of Sameer Ahmad Malla, the aide of Major Gogoi, who had ferried the Army officer and a woman to the hotel in his private car.

The decision comes five days after the Army's Court of inquiry led by Brigadier-rank officer ordered to initiate disciplinary action against Major Gogoi after he was found guilty for "fraternising locals in spite of instructions to the contrary and being away from the place of duty while in the operational area".

The case dates back to May 23 when Major Gogoi, who had earlier sparked a major controversy for using 26-year-old Farooq Ahmad Dar as a human shield to negotiate a stone-pelting mob last year, was caught with a young woman while trying to check-in at a local hotel in Srinagar.

Major Gogoi was later detained by the police along with a young woman and accomplice Sameer Malla after the hotel authorities reported the matter to the cops. Police later handed him over to his unit after questioning

"Role of Sameer Malla, an Army personnel, has not been ascertained by the investigating agency as to why he accompanied the girl to the hotel. As per the statement recorded before the executive magistrate during the inquiry, Major Gogoi had uploaded his name as Ubaid Armani thereby creating a fake facebook account which aspect of the matter also needs to be investigated in terms of IT Act," said the CJM in his order.