Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Police identified the young man killed in a controversial encounter in Ganderbal district this week – and declared a militant by the army – solely on the basis of some identity papers found on him, The Wire has learnt.Due to heightened presence of security forces in the valley, Kashmiris are known to carry their identity papers with them at all times.A senior police officer said that the identity papers were recovered from the deceased whose body was handed over to the civil authorities in Ganderbal by the army for medico-legal formalities on April 1 following the encounter in Arahama forests.Sources said that Kangan police station took custody of the body and the station house officer requested the civil authorities to conduct a post-mortem examination of the deceased.A government official said that a medical board was constituted by J&K’s health department comprising three doctors and two paramedics from Kangan sub-district hospital to conduct the autopsy.However, the body was later transferred to Ganderbal due to “jurisdiction issues” where a new medical team was formed which conducted the autopsy.It was not immediately known when and how these identity papers were recovered. There is no clarity on why the army did not recover the papers and identify the deceased before handing over the body to the civil authorities.Mughal. Photo: By arrangement.The deceased was later identified as Rashid Ahmad Mughal from Chountwaliwar village in Ganderbal who had left home on March 31 morning and later went missing.“It is only because of these papers that we were able to identify the deceased, otherwise the process would have taken more time,” the officer quoted above told The Wire, requesting anonymity.It is not unusual for security forces to not immediately identify militants killed in encounters and their affiliations due to a host of factors including the presence of foreign militants in J&K.However, the army is yet to officially give out the name of the militant it claimed to have killed in the Ganderbal encounter.The army’s Srinagar-based Chinar Corps said on April 1 in a post on X that a suspected militant was killed in an “ongoing” encounter and that arms and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site.The Corps said that the encounter broke out following “specific intelligence input” about the presence of militants in Arahama and that it was a joint operation with the J&K police when the forces allegedly came under fire from the militants on March 31.Interestingly, the J&K police have not issued any statement on the alleged encounter. There were no reports of any injuries during the alleged exchange of gunfire.Also read: Family Alleges ‘Cold-Blooded Killing’ After Army Says Militant Shot Dead in Ganderbal, KashmirA post-graduate in commerce, Mughal earned a living by charging a minimal fee from people who wanted to file online applications for official documents and social welfare schemes.Aijaz Ahmad, Mughal’s elder brother, said that he was loading crushed stones on a dumper truck when the station house officer of Lar police station came rushing to the area on April 1.“He was specifically looking for me,” he said.Ahmad, a labourer who was working near the Sindh river, said that the police official informed him that his brother had met with an accident and that he had to come along with them to the police control room in Srinagar. There, he later identified his young brother’s mutilated body.“He was wearing different clothes from the ones he had on when he left home on Tuesday morning [March 31],” Ahmad, who has a four-year-old son, said.The two brothers share a home in Chountwaliwar village. Their eldest brother and a sister are both married and have homes in the same village. Their parents passed away some years ago.A photo of Mughal which circulated on social media after the encounter shows a bearded man lying lifeless in a forested area beside a pine tree. He is wearing a pheran – a loose, woollen garment worn over everyday clothes, especially in cold weather – that appears pockmarked by bullets fired near his shoulders.He also appears to wear a combat belt on top of his pheran, an unusual way to dress that may indicate interference with the crime scene, for militants normally conceal such gear.Mughal’s body was later transported to Zachaldara in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district where it was buried in a graveyard reserved by authorities for suspected militants killed in encounters with security forces.Along with some relatives, Ahmad accompanied the body to Zachaldara. Mughal was laid to rest in the presence of six to seven people.InquiryIn a post on X, J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s office said on Friday that a magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the killing of Mughal which would submit its report within seven days.An inquiry order issued by J&K’s home department was also posted by Sinha’s office on X. The inquiry is likely to be conducted by an additional district magistrate of Ganderbal.The inquiry was ordered a day after Mughal’s brother and other relatives claimed that he had no links to militancy while accusing the army of killing him in cold blood.According to reports, a battalion of the army’s Assam Rifles had carried out the alleged encounter and has been shifted out of the area.Some political leaders in Kashmir including J&K chief minister and his predecessor Mehbooba Mufti have backed the call for an impartial inquiry into the encounter.