Family members and villagers appeared before an inquiry officer at Ganderbal police station on Monday evening to record formal statements regarding the killing of 31-year-old Rashid Ahmad Mughal.

The move follows a magisterial probe ordered by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on April 3 after the army’s claim that Mughal was a militant killed in a forest encounter was met with local outrage and political condemnation. Sinha ordered that the probe must be completed within a week.

While the army reported the “neutralisation of a terrorist” during a joint operation at Arhama on April 1, they did not identify the deceased. This silence, coupled with the police’s refusal to immediately validate the army’s version, fuelled scepticism. Relatives and neighbours vehemently contest the official narrative, asserting that Mughal was a civilian.

“We want a proper investigation and the body, which has been buried in a distant village, to be handed over to us,” a relative said after recording his testimony.

Police have already begun background checks on the family and collected statements from village elders to verify the deceased’s history.

Chief minister Omar Abdullah welcomed the magisterial probe but insisted it must be transparent with a full public disclosure of facts. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti labelled the incident a “fake encounter,” identifying Mughal as an orphan who ran a local NGO.