Major Leetul Gogoi (left) and Human shield Farooq Dar (Right)

Major Leetul Gogoi, the army man, who had used Budgam man as a human shield, was beaten black and blue after he was caught by the management of Mamta Hotel allegedly with a 17 year old Kashmiri girl.

The hotel management said that Major Gogoi arrived at the hotel with an “extremely young looking Kashmir girl” Wednesday morning.

The employees of the hotel, while narrating the whole episode to The Kashmir Press, said;

“At 10 AM on Wednesday morning, two guests arrived at our hotel as guests. It is not an unusual thing when a couple comes and asks for a room.”

“But we have rules here that no rooms be provided to locals, neither to singles nor to couples,” they added.

The employees said that before booking the room, they asked for the number of guests in the party and also for their identity proof.

“When our representative asked for their identity proofs, he found that the girl was a local and that the man was from Assam,” one of the employees said.

Hotel Grand Mamta, where Gogoi was caught along with minor girl

“We have a form here that every guest who comes here to book a room has to fill out. It includes details of identity and residential proof as well,” employee said.

The employee said that when they showed them proof of their identities, hotel staff found that the girl was a local and extremely (young), and the man was from Assam.

“We declined their request and told them that they couldn’t get a room because the hotel did not provide rooms to locals,” the employee added while expressing shock.

“When he left the entrance gate along with the minor girl, another staff member of the hotel asked him where he would take her”.

The employees of the hotel said that this enraged the man, identified as Major Gogoi, and he complained to his driver who was a local.

“The driver came out of the vehicle and rushed towards the employee with the intention to thrash him,” employees said.

They further said that the driver and the staffer then had a brawl and manhandled each other.

“When the rest of the employees came out and saw how tense the situation was, they tackled both and then handed them over to the police,” they added.

Hotel booking receipt

“They beat the Major and his accomplice black and blue”.

The hotel staffers said  the police afterwards arrived and arrested Major Gogoi, his local accomplice, and the girl.

“If we had an idea he was major Gogoi, we would have beaten him more. How can he tie an innocent man to the jeep, torture him, and parade him around dozens of villages. A human can’t do this,” the staffers said.

The hotel staffers said the girl looked minor and young.

The Srinagar police maintain that age of the girl was being verified to ascertain she was a minor or a major.

The Kashmir Press spoke to multiple police and local sources in central Kashmir’s Budgam district, who confirmed the age of the girl is as young as 17.

The hotel management claimed that the Adhar card declared the date of birth of the girl in the year 2001.

The police spokesperson in a statement said that a police party was deputed to the hotel, and it surfaced that one woman (name withheld) and another person, namely Sameer Ahmed of Budgam, had come to see somebody there.

“But the hotel receptionist did not allow them to meet the person. Meanwhile, the police party reached the spot and ferried all the persons to the police station,” it said.

Sources said Sameer is a local and is a close confidante of Major Gogoi.

The police statement further said, “Subsequently it was learn that the girl had come to meet an army officer. The identity and particulars of the army officer were collected by the police as well.”

“The officials were handed over to their unit after duly recording their statements. The statement of the girl is also being recorded as part of the probe into the matter,” it said.

T-shirt bearing picture of Human shield Farooq Dar and the slogan “Indian army, saving your ass whether you like it or not’

Later, the Inspector General of Police, SP Pani, constituted a team under the supervision of superintendent of police north of Srinagar to probe the matter.

Major Gogoi is the same army officer who had tied a man (Farooq Ahmad Dar) on the bonnet of his official vehicle and used him as a human shield in the Beerwah area of central Kashmir’s Budgam district.

His controversial act was vociferously condemned in Kashmir, but he received an out of turn commendation from the Indian public and the army for doing so.

Gogoi was given an honorary award by the army for his “sustained valour” in “counter insurgency efforts.”

The companies also manufactured T shirts emblazoned with a message praising Major Gogoi’s act for using Dar as human shield.

On the other hand, his victim, Dar is constantly fighting for justice in the courts.

Dar told the Kashmir Press, he is still waiting for his mobile set which the army men led by Gogoi stole that from his pocket when he was abducted and used a human shield.