A 50-year-old alleged by the Jammu and Kashmir Police to be a self-styled divisional commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen has been acquitted in a sixth case after, yet again, prosecution witnesses did not confirm police claims.In the case in which the acquittal came last week, police had accused Ghulam Nabi alias Javed Qureshi, identified by them as a Hizbul militant, and “associate” Khursheed Ahmed of opening fire at a police search party in the forests of Marmat in Doda district in 2009, killing SPO Mohammad Ashraf. None of the prosecution witnesses supported the police version.The witnesses whose testimony led to the acquittal of both Nabi and Khursheed included members of the police search party. A number of them told the trial court that the officers had “instructed” them what names to take, with one of them also saying that the rifle shown as seized from Nabi and Ahmed had been previously shown as seized in other FIRs.Additional Sessions Judge, Doda, Archana Charak acquitted Nabi and Ahmed, giving them “the benefit of reasonable doubt”.The testimony of the doctor who conducted the postmortem also raised questions on the police version. It said Nabi had three bullet wounds, and was “shot from a distance of about 6 metres”, adding: “It did not seem to be a case of cross-fire where bursts were fired indiscriminately.”Also Read | BSF man ‘falsely claimed’ relatives died due to militancy, court upholds Rs 6 lakh recoveryIn its order, the trial court said defects or lapses in investigation by themselves do not necessarily entitle the accused to acquittal where substantive evidence establishes guilt. However, the judge said, in this case the prosecution evidence itself suffers from “material contradictions” and there is no “reliable corroboration”. “It was not sufficient to demonstrate that accused persons might have been involved or that the prosecution version was one possible explanation of circumstances… The benefit of doubt must necessarily go to the accused persons,’’ Judge Charak said.Nabi’s wife Shama Begum said he was arrested from Dehradun for the first time 16 years ago, where he worked as a labourer. He was around 35 at the time, and it fell upon her after that to raise their three children, between the ages of 1 and 3. She works as a cook at a private hostel, earning Rs 8,000 a month.Story continues below this adNabi was last home in 2025, when he was brought for an hour after his mother died.Advocate Asim Hashmi, who was appointed amicus curiae to assist the court in cases against Nabi, claimed that all the six FIRs in which he stands acquitted are sordid examples of police investigations.Also Read | Lashkar-e-Taiba militant killed in encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s BudgamThe other five FIRs:Case lodged: August 1999; Acquitted: November 2025The first FIR was filed against Nabi on a complaint reportedly by one Mohammad Shareef on August 6, 1999, at Khellani police post, saying his nephew Shakeel Ahmed had been killed by “militants” Shakeel Ansari, Irshad Ahmed and Ghulam Nabi. The killing happened outside the house of Shakeel’s father-in-law Mohammad Akram.Story continues below this adThe police said Shakeel’s wife and parents begged the militants to spare him, but that Nabi and Irshad fired at him, killing Shakeel on the spot.The prosecution examined 12 witnesses during the trial and none said Shakeel had been murdered by the accused. All the eyewitnesses “in one voice stated that he (Nabi) is their relative and they used to go to his house’’, observed Judge Charak. The judge also noted that Shakeel’s mother-in-law testified that the statement she gave was “tutored by police”.Nabi was acquitted on November 25, 2025, in the case, on the grounds that there was no direct evidence showing his involvement in the killing.Case lodged: May 2009; Acquitted: November 2024An FIR was filed on May 8, 2009, after Haseena Begum, a resident of Marmat’s Salota village, filed a complaint at Goha police post saying her husband Sadiq Ali had been taken away by a “nafri (party)” from the nearby Goha Army camp the previous night. She said the family was kept locked inside their home, and after about an hour, they heard gunshots.Story continues below this adWhen they were able to leave the house the next morning, Haseena said, they found it was Sadiq who had been shot.After investigations, police booked Ghulam Nabi, and an alleged accomplice, Muzaffar Ahmed. As per the FIR, the two demanded money from Sadiq, threatening him. When Sadiq refused, the FIR said, they took him with them. Police also claimed that after killing Sadiq, the “militants” fled as some Army troops chanced upon them, leaving behind a hand-granade, an AK magazine with 15 rounds, and gunpowder.Nabi was arrested in 2010 following an “encounter”, in which Muzaffar Ahmed was killed.During the course of the trial, Sadiq’s wife Haseena testified that police recorded her statement one-and-a-half years after the incident and she was told to repeat what she was “tutored”. Another witness, Abdul Hameed Gurjar, said he saw Army personnel running away from where Sadiq’s body lay.Story continues below this adInspector Naseem-Ul-Haq, who was part of the initial probe, deposed that the FIR was initially registered against Army persons on the complaint of Haseena.Mohammad Arif Rishu, who was Additional SP (Headquarters) Doda in 2011, too said that Haseena had sought registration of FIR against Army persons.Nabi was acquitted by Judge Charak on November 14, 2024, noting that all the witnesses had deposed that the deceased was killed by Army persons.Also Read | ‘Last local militant’: Why a 22-year-old Kashmir man has Valley on alertCase lodged; September 2010; Acquitted: May 2025On September 8, 2010, Goha police post reportedly received information that “militants” Ghulam Nabi, Jameel Ahmed, Ajad Hussain and Khursheed Ahmed had killed their “accomplice” Firdous Ahmed due to personal rivalry. Police said they recovered the body along with an AK-56 rifle allegedly used in his killing, three magazines and 60 rounds.Story continues below this adThe prosecution examined 12 of the 21 witnesses listed, most of them policemen.Acquitting Nabi on May 22, 2025, the Additional Sessions Judge, Doda, said, “none of the so-called eyewitnesses have deposed that the deceased was murdered by them (the militants), as is alleged in the chargesheet’’. “All eyewitnesses who are mostly police officials in one voice stated that deceased Firdous Ahmed contacted their Incharge that he wanted to surrender as some dispute was going on between him and his associates,’’ the judge said, adding that the evidence submitted also did not prove that the arms seized “were used by accused persons to inflict injuries to the deceased”.Case lodged: 2010; Acquitted: February 2020This case was registered against Nabi in 2010, while he was already in police custody. Police claimed he had confessed to hiding an SLR at Nagnala near Dheratop, and said it had been given to him by militants Azad Hussain and Jamil Ahmed Kayfatullah. The weapon belonged to SPO Baldev Singh of Bulandpur post who was killed by them in 2007, police said.During the inquiry, police said they found that Nabi joined the Hizbul in 1993 and many cases of murder were registered against him in Doda.Story continues below this adHowever, during the final arguments in court, Nazir Ahmed, who investigated the seizure of the SLR, admitted that the weapon had already been seized by them in an earlier murder case.ASI Shabir Ahmed, a prosecution witness, said during cross-examination that he was called by seniors for special duty at Doda so that he could be cited as witness in the disclosure statement made by Nabi and for the seizure memo of the SLR.Referring to the prosecution witnesses, the Additional Sessions Judge, Doda, noted that “this arm which was shown to be seized in this FIR has already been seized in another FIR”. Judge Charak also pointed out other irregularities, including improper sealing of the weapon after the seizure.“… no independent civilian witness has come forward in the case. It is not safe to hold the accused guilty,’’ the court held, acquitting Nabi on February 19, 2020.Story continues below this adCase lodged: August 2010; Acquitted: January 2019On August 18, 2010, a party from Goha police post was carrying out searches in Kundan Dhaar forest area of Marmat when it said it came under attack, forcing them to flee leaving behind four empty cartridges of AK-47 rifles.During investigations, Nabi, Ghulam Nabi Lone, Jameel Ahmed and Khursheed Ahmed were named as accused.Until January 18, 2019, prosecution presented only four witnesses, all of them police personnel, which the court repeatedly pulled it up for. Noting that the accused had been in judicial lock-up since October 2011, then Additional Sessions Judge, Doda, Madan Lal, said: “Speedy trial is the fundamental right of the accused.”It also noted that none of the witnesses had deposed that the accused were involved in the offence, merely testifying to the recovery of four empty cartridges of AK-47.Nabi and the others were acquitted on January 18, 2019.